Confess to You
by Literary Eagle
Summary: A story about love and family. Tenchi expresses his feelings for Ryoko, and Tsunami gives Ayeka a quest that could determine the fate of everything.
1. A Teardrop, Followed by Many More

Okay, this is my first Tenchi fan fic. In fact, this is my first fan fic of any kind, so please send me comments, criticism, and suggestions to help me with my writing. By the way, it's okay if you want to post this story on your site, but please ask me first.

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are property of Pioneer and AIC. However, this story is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun. In fact, I really should be doing my homework right now. (Hey, that's another reason why I shouldn't be sued: I'm just a poor student with no money!)

This story is set in the OAV reality, and takes place one year after Manatsu no Eve. If you'd like to read a fan fic that combines the OAV and TV series, you might want to try "Tenchi Muyo!: in Return to Jurai" by AleeN. It can also be found on GenSao's page. Now, on with the story! (Finally!)

Confess to You: Chapter One - A Teardrop, Followed by Many More  
By Literary Eagle

Water ... it never stopped ebbing and flowing, sometimes sustaining life, sometimes ending it. Whether it was the tiniest drip or the crash of a mighty wave, any sound water made was a song, to those who knew how to listen. Even the ice-bearing comets in the soundless vacuum of space were a part of the endless symphony, if one knew just how to listen.

It was water that nourished Jurai's legendary space trees ... water, and the powers of a goddess. However, the goddess Tsunami was not thinking about Jurai right now. From her otherworldly sanctuary, Tsunami listened to the ebb and flow of the waters on planet Earth, and asked the same question that she had whispered every day for quite some time: "Tenchi ... will this be the day?"

Tsunami told herself that even if it was not the day that she hoped for, there was still time. Just as the water would continue with its ebb and flow, Tsunami could continue to wait. However, the truth refused to be ignored, and pushed its way into her thoughts yet again. Deep down, she knew that there was another goddess who could NOT wait much longer.

Tsunami sighed. Perhaps it was time to take a more direct approach. She thought of everything that must be done, and of her unfortunate sister...

A single teardrop formed in the corner of Tsunami's eye, and with a thought she made it dematerialize. The teardrop of the goddess reappeared on the Earth, second home to Princess Sasami. The young girl was busily setting the table with her latest meal, her latest masterpiece.

---

"Dinner's ready!" Sasami called out as she finished preparations. She enjoyed cooking for everyone in the house. She was fond of saying that it was a way to make up for the fact that her arms weren't big enough to hug all of them at once. Cooking for so many people certainly was hard work, though. Sasami shook her head to make herself feel more awake. She did not notice a tiny drop of water appearing out of thin air and falling into Tenchi's teacup.

The members of the Masaki household flocked to the table. "Wow, this looks great, Sasami!" said Mihoshi, her eyes shining with eagerness. The others were quick to voice their agreement. Sitting in her highchair, little Mayuka laughed with delight to see her family looking so happy. In her humanoid toddler form, Ryo-Oh-Ki laughed along with her. Nobuyuki moved the vegetable platter closer to the cabbit-girl.

"I can't wait!" said Tenchi, kneeling at his usual spot at the table. Kiyone nodded and also knelt at the table. The food smelled especially good tonight. Washu rubbed her hands together with anticipation. It was unfortunate that Katsuhito had decided to work late at the shrine office. However, Sasami had prepared so much food that there were sure to be leftovers that he could enjoy later.

"Bon appétit!" everyone shouted, and then the room was filled with the clatter of chopsticks and the buzz of voices complimenting Sasami's work. Ryoko emptied her bowl of food in three quick gulps, then helped herself to seconds. Ayeka ate at a more leisurely pace, although that certainly didn't mean that she liked the food any less.

At first, Tenchi attacked the meal with the same enthusiasm as everyone else, but as time went on, he began to feel unusually tired. He excused himself from the table and, after reassuring everyone that he was all right, went up to his room and slid the door shut behind him. Tenchi didn't even make it to the bed. He sank to the floor and fell asleep immediately.

**********************************************************

Tenchi knew that he was dreaming. He recognized the scene in his dream as one of his earliest memories. Tenchi saw himself as a small boy, looking at someone else, a woman. The woman was beautiful. Her lavender kimono nicely complemented her soft gray hair. She was shading herself with an umbrella. The woman closed her eyes with contentment and smiled.

She was one of the most special people that Tenchi had ever known. She was someone that Tenchi loved dearly, someone who had been taken away from him much too soon. In Tenchi's eyes, she had always been an angel. Whether an angel on Earth or an angel in Heaven, she would always be Tenchi's mother. Tenchi watched his younger self run up to her, arms outstretched. All too soon, the image of the happy memory faded, and Tenchi's dream changed to another, more recent memory.

This woman was also beautiful. The lavender kimono nicely complemented her cyan hair. Light from the window behind her made it seem as if she were glowing. Her eyes were closed with contentment. Tenchi watched himself again, this time only a few years younger than his present age. "Huh?" his younger self said, staring like an idiot at the woman. Finally, he managed to say her name. "R-Ryoko?" Ryoko looked at the younger Tenchi, smiled, and asked him a question. Tenchi saw himself move closer to Ryoko. He recalled that he had been trying to decide if he should tell her how beautiful she looked, or scold her for putting on his mother's kimono without asking.

What kind of dream was this? Why did he need to see this memory played before him? The dream progressed exactly as Tenchi remembered the event. Ryoko tore both sleeves off the kimono, and Tenchi tried desperately to wake up and end the dream, for he knew what was going to happen next. But the dream did not end, and he was forced to see and hear all of it. Tenchi saw himself turn away from her, sputtering angrily. "Oh, you!" he said, "I hate you! I hate you!"

Tenchi then watched himself run out the room after Ryo-Oh-Ki. Ryoko stayed there, stunned, tears flowing out of her eyes. Tenchi felt intense guilt for having lost his temper the way he had on that day. _I know, I know,_ Tenchi felt like telling his subconscious, _I shouldn't have said that to her. Why are you making me relive this now?_

The scenery changed once again. This one was a much earlier memory than the one with Ryoko. Tenchi saw himself as a small boy again, hovering near his mother. She was resting on a futon in his grandfather's home. Their visit was not as much fun as young Tenchi had thought it would be. "Mommy, c'mon, let's go play!" he said, tugging on her hand. His mother looked at him with sad, weary eyes and said that she was too tired. _Oh God, no, not this!_ Tenchi thought desperately. He remembered what he had said next. _Don't make me see this!_

Young Tenchi's eyes filled with angry tears. "All you ever want to do now is sleep!" he shouted, "I hate you!" He ran out of the room. Tenchi's mother remained on the futon and sighed, closing her eyes, too tired to even cry. _Stop this! Please stop this!_ Tenchi tried to scream, _I don't want to see anymore!_ This had happened only a few days before Tenchi's mother died, only a few days before the angel had flown away.

The scene changed yet again. Tenchi saw his younger self on the day of his mother's death. It was snowing. Young Tenchi was crying outside of the cave, which had been one of his favorite places to play. To his amazement, Tenchi saw the air near his younger self begin to shimmer. A transparent Ryoko appeared beside the small boy. She tried to place her hand on the crying child, but could not actually touch him. When he raised his little head, she tried to wipe his tears away, but could not. "I'm sorry," she said, even though young Tenchi could not hear her, "I wish I could comfort you right now. I'm so sorry!"

_Did this really happen?_ Tenchi thought, _Was Ryoko actually there with me?_ The dream changed once more. Again, Tenchi saw himself yelling at Ryoko, "I hate you! I hate you!".

_No! Stop it!_ Tenchi's mind screamed, _Stop!_

**********************************************************

Tenchi's eyes flew open. He was lying on his side, still on the bedroom floor. His could feel tears sliding across his face. "Oh God," he whimpered, "what a fool I've been."

Tenchi rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. If there was anyone he felt like hating at that moment, it was himself. It had been a long time since Tenchi remembered that one of the last things he had said to his mother was that he hated her. "Mom," he said in a whisper, "Mom, I'm sorry..."

He had told his mother many times that he loved her, but he felt that it had never been enough. He could never tell her again. Then Tenchi thought of Ryoko. He had never even once let her know how he felt about her...

Ryoko had changed since Tenchi's baby "daughter" Mayuka had joined the family about a year ago. Oh, Ryoko could still be quite outgoing and mischievous, but her fights with Ayeka had become less frequent and far less severe. The last major fight between the girls had ended with Washu smashing huge flower pots over both their heads and saying sternly, "No fighting when there's a baby in the house!".

Washu's tactic had worked. After all, Ryoko certainly was fond of little Mayuka. Over the past year, Ryoko had done her best to help take care of her (though not without a few mishaps). She had even reconciled somewhat with her long-lost mother Washu, since she needed to spend more time with her to learn how to care for a baby. In fact, it was now Ryoko and Washu who worked the hardest at looking after Mayuka. Perhaps it was through caring for the baby that Ryoko and Washu made up for the "quality time" that they never had before. They still argued at times, and Washu still hid in her lab now and then, but at least they were trying very hard to work out their differences. At any rate, Tenchi was happy for Ryoko, knowing that at least she had been given a second chance with her mother.

Not only had Ryoko changed, but Tenchi's feelings for her had changed as well. No, wait, that wasn't it. Those feelings for her had existed before; it was simply that they had grown stronger over the past year. But why hadn't he TOLD her that?

Tenchi couldn't figure out how he had managed to fall asleep on the floor, but he did understand what his dream had been trying to tell him. Over the years, Tenchi had learned to accept the fact that things could not always be explained, and the strangeness of the dream didn't make the truth of its message any less important. His mother had died before he could tell her, one last time, that he loved her. He had never actually told Ryoko how he felt about her, and if she had been killed by Dr. Clay or by Yuzuha...

It was a different kind of love, for a different kind of woman, but even still the situation was all too similar. Tenchi knew that he had to do something about it as soon as possible. His unexpected nap had left him feeling unusually energetic. Getting up off the floor, Tenchi sat down at his desk and began writing. He never had been a particularly good speaker, so he tried to write down all that he wanted to tell Ryoko. He wanted to be sure to say everything just right.

As he wrote, Tenchi thought about the one part of his dream that hadn't been one of his memories. The image of Ryoko trying to console his younger self puzzled him. Tenchi told himself that it was just the way that dreams were, but he couldn't bring himself to believe that. After all, the rest of the dream had been accurate.

Thinking hard, Tenchi suddenly remembered something that Ryoko had said to him a few months earlier. It had been a nice spring night, and Ryoko had invited him to accompany her to a clearing in the woods to drink sake. He had been reluctant at first, but had decided to go with her as a way of saying thanks for her taking good care of Mayuka. As they drank under the stars, Ryoko had begun to talk more openly than she usually did. She had mentioned something about watching over him when he was a little boy!

_Now why didn't I remember that until now?_ Tenchi asked himself. It occurred to him that the reason was probably because most of his memories of that night were kind of fuzzy, although Washu had later told him that Ryoko had carried him home while he had been drunkenly singing something about carrot cake. One thing Tenchi did remember was that Washu had cared for Mayuka alone the next day. This was because Ryoko had looked after him, since he had been suffering from his first hangover. He certainly had appreciated her help. Of course, he would have been even happier if she hadn't let him get so drunk in the first place, but anyway...

---

It was a few hours later when Tenchi finally decided that what he had written was exactly what he wanted to say. He folded the piece of paper and put it into his pocket. Now all he had to do was find Ryoko and find a place for them to talk. Tenchi opened his door and stepped out into the hall.

The door to one of the other rooms was slightly open. Tenchi could hear Ayeka's gentle voice coming from the room. She was reading a bedtime story to Sasami and Ryo-Oh-Ki. This made Tenchi stop in his tracks. Ayeka. She was one of the reasons why he had not spoken to Ryoko about his feelings sooner. Listening to the sound of Ayeka's voice, Tenchi imagined her soft lips moving as she read the story, and her delicate hands turning the pages...

He knew that he wasn't in love with Ayeka. What made Tenchi hesitate was the knowledge that what he was about to do would undoubtedly hurt the gentle princess. To make matters worse, she had already loved someone who had not returned that love. Yosho. Tenchi could understand why his grandfather had not wanted to return to Jurai, but he also knew how upset Ayeka had been when she had found out that his grandfather had been hiding his identity from her.

_But if grandpa hurt Ayeka when he hid the truth_ Tenchi thought to himself, _then I wouldn't be any better if I kept pretending that I didn't have feelings for someone else. If I don't go through with this, it would be unfair to both Ryoko and Ayeka._

Tenchi realized that the day he had said those horrible words to his mother had played a crucial role in shaping his personality. He had hesitated in expressing his feelings concerning Ryoko and Ayeka because he was so terribly afraid of hurting anyone again. However, because he had waited so long, his decision would be even harder for Ayeka to take. "What a fool I've been," Tenchi said to himself again.

Taking a deep breath, Tenchi strode down the hall and knocked on one of the doors, the one that led to the room set aside for Mayuka. Washu opened the door and smiled at him. "Hey, Tenchi," she said, "come on in. We're just about ready to put Mayuka to bed."

Tenchi followed the little redheaded scientist into the room. The walls were decorated with posters of various anime characters. Washu began to place several plush toys (one of them was a crab) into Mayuka's crib. Above the crib was a mobile with little plastic cabbits in every color of the rainbow. On the floor near the crib lay a futon, because Ryoko often slept in Mayuka's room now, instead of on that wooden beam downstairs.

Tenchi saw Ryoko rocking Mayuka back and forth in her arms, singing to the baby. He had heard her sing to his daughter every night, but he never tired of hearing her rich, low voice fill his mind with images of stars and happy dreams.

How long ago was it when Tenchi had first seen a hint of this side of Ryoko? How long had it taken before he had been able to see beyond the "devil-princess and space pirate"? Was it the time she had desperately attempted to mend his mother's kimono, even though she couldn't sew? No, it was earlier than that. It was on the day that he had died trying to save her from the tyrannical Kagato. That frightened look on her face before Kagato had stunned her and taken her away ... It was only because of the mysterious Tsunami that Tenchi had been given a second chance at life. A second chance at life with Ryoko. Tenchi couldn't believe that he used to undervalue Ryoko's declarations of love, mistakenly thinking that she didn't know what love was.

Once she had finished singing, Ryoko handed the baby over to Washu. "Look, Mom, she's asleep," she whispered.

Washu's green eyes always lit up whenever Ryoko called her "Mom". It was a sight that always made Tenchi happy, but this time he was too busy looking at Ryoko. "Um, Ryoko," he said, "could I talk with you for a bit? Privately?"

"Go ahead," said Washu, "I'll finish up here."

"Thanks, Mom," said Ryoko, heading for the door.

Tenchi walked over to Washu and Mayuka. "Goodnight, Little Washu," he said. He leaned in closer to the baby in her arms and gently kissed the blue-haired infant on the forehead. "Goodnight, my little Mayuka."

Tenchi then followed Ryoko out into the hall. He heard Washu's voice coming through the door, saying, "Don't stay up too late, little Ryoko."

Ryoko grimaced slightly. Tenchi grinned and they both went downstairs. Mihoshi and Kiyone were in the living room, watching a soap opera marathon on TV. They didn't notice Tenchi and Ryoko slip outside.

---

The skies were cloudy, and no stars were visible. It was not the perfect summer night that Tenchi had hoped for, but it would have to do. Tenchi carefully led Ryoko a short distance away from the house. He then stopped walking and faced her. In the darkness, he could barely make out her facial features at all. Still, that did not help to ease his nervousness. He could not bring himself to say anything to her.

"What's the matter," asked Ryoko, "Washu got your tongue?" Tenchi managed a weak little laugh. Ryoko's voice sounded dead serious as she said, "No, really, has Washu got your tongue? Mom's been lonely lately, so she's constructing a new husband out of Juraian body parts." This time she succeeded in getting a good laugh out of Tenchi. He relaxed somewhat.

"I have something that I'd like to say to you," Tenchi began, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the piece of paper that he had written on. He unfolded the paper, then almost let out an uncharacteristic string of swear words. It was too dark outside for Tenchi to be able to read the paper!

"Um, I think we're going to have to go back to the house," Tenchi muttered. He led Ryoko to the large windows outside the living room. Tenchi had decided that there was enough light coming from the windows to read by, and that Mihoshi and Kiyone were too engrossed in the soap opera to notice anything else. Besides, even if they turned around, all they'd see would be their reflections. With one hand Tenchi slowly reached out and touched Ryoko's face. In his other hand he held the paper. He prepared to read. "Um ... Ryoko, I'd like to start by saying I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this sooner..." He paused and looked into her beautiful golden eyes.

---

Meanwhile, Mihoshi and Kiyone were watching the soap opera with their mouths hanging open. It was at a really juicy part now! Mihoshi leaned forward and accidentally knocked the TV remote off the armrest of the couch. The volume of the TV shot up to full blast. "Mihoshi! What did you do?" Kiyone exclaimed.

Mihoshi picked up the remote and tried to lower the volume, but it didn't seem to be working. Kiyone snatched the remote out of her hand and tried to lower the volume herself, but nothing was happening. "Great," said Kiyone, "I think you broke it!"

"Just what is all this noise about?" said Ayeka, coming down the stairs.

"Yeah, some of us are trying to sleep," said Sasami, following her sister. Ryo-Oh-Ki, in cabbit form, miya-ed in agreement from her position on top of Sasami's head.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Washu exclaimed, coming down the stairs with a crying Mayuka in her arms, "You woke up the baby!"

"What's all this commotion?" asked Nobuyuki, coming down after Washu.

"It's okay," Kiyone said quickly, "everything's under control." She got up and pressed one of the buttons on the TV. The volume returned to a lower level.

"Yay!" said Mihoshi, "problem solved!" She clapped her hands in delight.

The lamp, which was operated by a clapper, promptly turned off. With the light in the room dimmed, the reflection on the windows faded and it was easier to see outside. "Huh?" said Sasami, staring at the windows. Everyone turned to see what Sasami was looking at. They saw Tenchi standing there, gently caressing Ryoko's face. Everyone's mouths dropped open.

---

Tenchi became slightly annoyed when he noticed that the light was gone, except for the dim, flickering light of the TV. He turned his head to see what was going on ... and saw the entire household staring at him. To make matters worse, the soap opera characters on the TV were engaged in something that made Tenchi feel a nosebleed coming on. Suddenly, Ryoko wrapped her strong arms around Tenchi and flew off. He let out a startled yelp as he was lifted into the sky.

---

Everyone inside the house flocked to the windows, but the two had already disappeared. They began to buzz excitedly about what they had just seen. Ayeka, however, remained on the stairs. No one noticed as she sat down, held her head in her hands, and let out a defeated little sigh.

---

In Ryoko's arms, Tenchi was still shaking from the shock of getting yanked into the air so suddenly. "It was getting too crowded back there, don't you think?" Ryoko asked, about to carry Tenchi through the clouds. She wrapped her tail playfully around his waist.

Tenchi blinked when he heard Ryoko begin to sing. It was the same song that she sang to Mayuka every night. Now that they were through the clouds, the stars were visible. As they flew, Ryoko kept singing about stars and happy dreams ... before Tenchi knew it, he was singing along with her, his soft, trembling voice joining with hers. Tenchi decided that it was the perfect summer night after all.

When the song was done, Ryoko began to descend. She carried Tenchi back through the clouds, and went down to the same clearing where they had gone to drink sake. "Now, I believe you wanted to tell me something?" said Ryoko, setting Tenchi down onto the ground.

Feeling much more relaxed, Tenchi prepared to read to her ... and almost let out that string of swear words again. It was still too dark for him to read the paper!

Tenchi yelped as Ryoko suddenly fired a small energy blast from her hand. It struck the paper and turned it to ashes. "Tenchi," Ryoko said solemnly, "just say what's in your heart."

_She knows_ Tenchi thought to himself. _Oh, for crying out loud, of course she knows! She's not an idiot!_

Tenchi thought of all the things that he wanted to say to her. Where to begin? Finally, Tenchi decided to say the one thing that mattered. Something so simple sounding, and yet so sincere. Why had he taken this long? That wasn't important anymore. All that mattered was this: "Ryoko ... I love you."

Tenchi felt embarrassed as tears began to trickle down his face. Ryoko, evidently having better night vision than he did, reached out and gently brushed the tears away. "You don't know how long I've wanted to be able to do this," she said, her voice shaking. Tenchi almost said that yes, he did know. Instead, he pressed his lips against hers.

Ryoko's breath quickened with joy, warming Tenchi's face in the cool night. Tenchi placed his arms on her back, and was surprised to find that the powerful muscles there were trembling. He felt Ryoko changing her position slightly, and then her hands coming to rest on his shoulders, lightly caressing them. Moments later, Tenchi tasted something warm and salty that had slid past the corner of Ryoko's lip. It was a teardrop.

Startled, he broke off the kiss and pulled back slightly. Had he done something wrong? Ryoko's grip on Tenchi's shoulders tightened just a little, as she pulled him back to her in a close embrace. Her breath came out in rapid little gasps, sounding quite different from the singing her strong voice had produced only moments before. As he had with the song, Tenchi suddenly added his voice to Ryoko's, so that the two of them were both somehow crying and laughing at the same time. The reason for this strange new music was not a complete mystery to Tenchi:

At last, Ryoko's dream had come true.

At last, Tenchi realized just how much this had been his dream as well.

---

Water ... Tsunami could feel the tears of joy being shared by Ryoko and Tenchi, and sighed happily. The goddess had merely given Tenchi a message. His actions had been up to him. She was relieved that he had made the choice that she had hoped for. "Well done, Tenchi," Tsunami whispered, "Now, at last, I can proceed with my plan. Tokimi ... it has finally begun."

---

When Tenchi and Ryoko returned home, holding hands, everyone was waiting for them in the living room. "Well done, Tenchi!" exclaimed Nobuyuki. Tenchi had an embarrassed smile on his face as everyone gave his or her congratulations. Just then, he noticed Ayeka wordlessly going up the stairs.

_Oh, no_, thought Tenchi, preparing to go up after her. He stopped when he felt a small hand grab his wrist. He turned and saw that it was Washu.

"Leave her alone for now," Washu said gently, "let her have some time alone." Tenchi reluctantly stayed where he was, hoping that Washu was right.

---

Even though nobody else was in the hall, Ayeka remained silent and composed as she walked towards her bedroom. She quietly entered the room and lay down on her futon. It was only then that she let out a small whimper, and finally the tears came. The tears flowed out until she almost thought that she could drown in them, and still they kept coming.

A worried Sasami came into the room a while later. She found her older sister lying perfectly still, staring at the ceiling. The constant flow of tears was the only indication that Ayeka was still alive. As impossible as it might seem, Ayeka made absolutely no sound. It was as if all her songs had been silenced, her tears becoming her voice.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: Why the heck is Tsunami playing matchmaker with Tenchi and Ryoko? What are her plans for Ayeka? Stay tuned for Chapter 2 of Confess to You, "Most Noble Princess"!

Author's notes: I got the title "Confess to You" from a lovely picture I saw of Tenchi and Ryoko getting married. Actually, now that I think of it, Nagi and Ken-Oh-Ki from the TV series were in that picture, and I wrote this story for the OAV reality! Oops. Um ... and so I confess to you, dear readers, my inability to keep track of all these blasted realities! Seriously though, the only connection my series really has with the picture is the title, so I have no plans to include Nagi or her cabbit in it.

By the way, several portions of Tenchi's dream were scenes from episodes 5 and 10 of the OAVs, but some were just the product of my weird imagination. (Sorry, there's no prize for guessing which ones.)

Next chapter will of course have more about the Tenchi and Ryoko relationship, but I'm also gonna try to write some interesting scenes for Ayeka and Mihoshi. They aren't my favorite characters, but I think that they get bashed a lot more than they deserve. I don't think that Ayeka is a (rhymes with "witch"), I find that she is an interesting combination of gentle-heartedness and strength. As for Mihoshi, she may be a ditz, but I also think that she is the sweetest and most selfless of the girls, except for Sasami. While I'm at it, I also find that Tenchi is under-appreciated. Sure, he's indecisive, but to call him a "spineless wuss" is a gross exaggeration. If he's so spineless, why has he risked his life so many times to help his friends?

Anyway, please send me C&C, suggestions, or questions concerning the story. Okay, I'm done babbling for now. Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll see you next chapter!

Text copyright 1998, Literary Eagle  
(But the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)


	2. Most Noble Princess

Hi! Thanks for reading Chapter 1! Umm ... you read it, right? Anyway, I'd just like to remind you to please send me your comments and criticism. (To those who did last time: Thanks! Keep 'em coming!) Also, if you want to post this story on your site, please ask me first.

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are property of Pioneer and AIC. However, this story is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun. Besides, I don't have any money, having spent it all on Tenchi merchandise (and that's a good thing, isn't it?).

Special thanks go to my proofreader, AleeN. His fan fic, "Tenchi Muyo!: in Return to Jurai" can also be found on GenSao's page.

Last chapter: One year after the events of Manatsu no Eve, Tsunami set a mysterious plan in motion. This involved prompting Tenchi to tell Ryoko how he felt about her. What does this mean for Ayeka?

Confess to You: Chapter Two - Most Noble Princess  
By Literary Eagle

Princess Ayeka's tears painted a picture of a broken heart on her face. She cried without making a sound. She herself did not know why her despair was voiceless, and she wondered why her heart had not made a sound as it broke. Perhaps it was so that she could hear the faint whisper in her soul which was saying "Courage, courage, courage...". Courage?

---

After much weeping, Ayeka had finally fallen asleep. Sasami, though happy for Tenchi and Ryoko, had of course been extremely worried about her older sister. It was because of this that Sasami had not been able to sleep until Ayeka had drifted off, sometime in the middle of the night. It did not take long before Sasami's sleep became fitful...

******************************************************************

Sasami's nightmare was not a vision of the future, but a memory of something that had happened to her about a year ago. A sixteen-year-old Mayuka held the young princess in her grasp. Sasami struggled to break free. Her eyes widened when she saw Yuzuha strike her older sister with a blast of energy. "Ayeka!" Sasami cried. Tenchi and Ryoko came running to Ayeka's side.

"Prince, I'm waiting for you." Yuzuha laughed at Tenchi, "To find me, ask the old man from the Jurai royal family!"

"Hold it!" Ryoko shouted, baring her fangs.

"Tenchi, help me!" Sasami screamed, "Aaah!"

Sasami cried out in terror as she and the brainwashed Mayuka were transported into the Dimension of Darkness. What made things worse for Sasami was the realization that she was being used in a trap meant to destroy Tenchi. She could hear Yuzuha's laugh as she dropped into a seemingly endless pit, falling deeper into the dark realm.

Still falling, Sasami suddenly heard a voice inside her mind. "Tsunami! You have come for me!" the voice shouted. The twin triangles on Sasami's forehead began to glow with a blinding silver light. It felt like her forehead was on fire. The princess screamed that she was not Tsunami, but heard no response. Instead, a hundred images flashed through Sasami's mind, moving by too quickly for her to understand them all. Something about a sun? A tree branch? A ship? It was too much, it was too fast! In the meantime, Yuzuha had not stopped laughing.

The pain on Sasami's forehead became unbearable. She fainted, and later awoke to find herself lying on a floor, her head cradled in Ryoko's lap. Had she come to rescue her? Sasami looked up and saw a demon strangling Tenchi. Something about the demon looked familiar... NO! It wasn't a demon; it was Mayuka!

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Sasami moaned in her sleep. A soft light filled the room as the goddess Tsunami materialized in front of Sasami's futon. Tsunami waved her hand, and the two triangular marks on Sasami's forehead began to glow. It was the same silver light that they had given off a year ago, but the goddess made sure that Sasami felt no pain. Tsunami turned her head to look at the sleeping Ayeka. The tiara that Ayeka always wore (the key to her ship, Ryu-Oh) began to cast a golden light, like it sometimes did when Ayeka summoned a large amount of Jurai power.

"Let it begin, Sasami," Tsunami whispered. Sasami opened her eyes. In a trance, the girl stood up and walked over to her sleeping sister's side. Kneeling down, she brushed Ayeka's bangs aside with one hand, and waved her other hand over the glowing tiara on Ayeka's forehead. The tiara's golden glow turned silver. Meanwhile, the silvery glow of Sasami's triangles began to dim a little. Sasami went back to her futon, lay down, and closed her eyes. The silvery light shining from the two princesses' foreheads disappeared.

"Forgive me, Ayeka..." Tsunami said softly. The goddess was saddened at having to toss such a delicate teardrop into a tidal wave. However, it was only a heart such as Ayeka's that could face the coming storms. Everything was falling into place: Ayeka's strength, Ryoko's love, Tenchi's soul. "Tokimi..." Tsunami whispered to herself, trembling. The goddess dematerialized, leaving the room in darkness.

---

It was early sunrise when Ayeka opened her eyes. She felt a strange tingling sensation on her forehead. The princess attributed this to fatigue. After all, she had cried until well into the middle of the night. However, now that she remembered last night's events, Ayeka knew that she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, no matter how tired she was. Ayeka groaned and sat up. She glanced at Sasami, still asleep, and at Ryo-Oh-Ki. The little cabbit was sleeping curled up beside Sasami's futon.

Ayeka thought about how the room had looked one night about a year ago. Mihoshi, Kiyone, and the sixteen-year-old Mayuka had slept in the room with them. The summer slumber party had been Sasami's idea. They had even set up extra bedding for Ryoko, in case she wanted to join in, but she hadn't. Who could blame her? That had been the horrible day when Tenchi had lost control and slapped her. No wonder she had stayed out of sight.

But now, Tenchi had made clear which of the girls it was that he loved. Ayeka sighed as tears threatened to stream out of her eyes again. No, she definitely wasn't going to get any more sleep now. She decided that she might as well get up and soak in the bath for a while. Perhaps that would help her to feel better. She doubted it, though. Being careful not to wake Sasami and Ryo-Oh-Ki, Ayeka silently dressed, grabbed some towels, and left the room.

As Ayeka walked down the hall towards the stairs, she again pictured the way Tenchi and Ryoko had come home last night: holding hands and looking so happy. Ayeka slowly descended the staircase. Her beloved Lord Tenchi had chosen, and she had not been his choice. She told herself that she should have seen this coming. The signs had probably been there. She had most likely been blind to all the signals, naïvely thinking that it was her destiny to be Tenchi's bride. Years ago, she had thought that her destiny was with Yosho, and things had certainly not turned out that way. "I am such a fool," Ayeka whispered to herself sadly as she went outside. She headed for the onsen.

As she walked, Ayeka suddenly remembered that Nobuyuki planned on sneaking off with Tenchi on a fishing trip sometime this week. It was supposed to be a secret, but she had seen Nobuyuki preparing the fishing equipment for several days now. Subtlety was not Nobuyuki's strong point. "Oh, wonderful," Ayeka murmured to herself, "I have such a gift for noticing only the unimportant things." She sighed. At least it meant that she would not have to see Tenchi for a while. It would give her time to think about what she should do now.

---

Meanwhile, Ryoko was happily humming in the kitchen. She'd just had the most wonderful night of her life. Her Tenchi had said that he loved her! She stopped humming and sighed happily when she remembered the feeling of his warm lips against hers ... However, Ryoko was not the type to use that silly "I'll never wash these lips again" cliché. After all, she told herself, she could look forward to kissing him again and again!

Ryoko had not planned on getting up so early, but Mayuka was hungry. "With that kind of an appetite, you just might grow up to be as strong as me," said Ryoko, watching the baby suck on her bottle.

Just then, Tenchi came into the kitchen. "I thought I heard some noise down here," he said with a smile, "Oh, I see that you finally learned how to make the baby formula properly!"

"And last night I saw that you could actually be decisive for once," Ryoko said with a grin. She teleported to Tenchi's side. She held Mayuka and the bottle with one arm, and wrapped her other arm around Tenchi. "I'm so happy!" she said, squeezing Tenchi enthusiastically. He didn't try to pull away.

Still squeezing Tenchi, she moved her face in closer to his and kissed him. They stood there like that for several moments, until Tenchi finally broke away, whispering, "Can we start every morning like that?"

She released Tenchi and pretended to consider what he had just said. "Well," she replied, "I think I can arrange that, if you change Mayuka's diaper more often." She smirked and went back to feeding the baby.

"What?" said Tenchi, pretending to be shocked, "Mayuka's 'tough as hell' personal trainer doesn't like to touch dirty diapers?"

Ryoko shrugged in mock embarrassment, and Tenchi laughed.

"Listen," he said as a thought suddenly occurred to him, "I promised Dad that I would sneak off with him on a fishing trip later this week. I'm sorry, I'll be gone for several days, and ... Oh, what am I saying? No, no, I'll just tell Dad that I'll have to go some other - mmf!" The "mmf" was because Ryoko had just placed a finger on Tenchi's lips.

"It's okay, Tenchi," Ryoko said as she set the now empty bottle on the counter, "On some planets, when two people declare their love for each other, they separate for a few days. They do this so they can think and make sure that what they feel is true love. You know ... so they don't rush into something that they'll regret later."

Tenchi blinked. Ryoko was using an almost scholarly tone that made her sound like her mother. Had Ryoko been doing RESEARCH?

Ryoko was still speaking: "During the time that the lovers are separated, each bonds with a parent of the same gender, who will answer any questions she or he may have concerning ... relationships. So you just go whenever you want to, and have a good time with your father. While you're gone, I can spend some time with Mom. I have a feeling that she has some interesting ... TECHNIQUES that she could teach me."

Tenchi thought of Washu's "Angel of Mercy" routine, and a large sweatdrop formed over his head.

"So don't worry," Ryoko added in her most alluring voice, "we'll have plenty of time to spend together later." She moved in to kiss him again ... and Mayuka spat up onto Ryoko's dress. "Whoops," Ryoko giggled, "I guess I fed her a little too much."

Tenchi took Mayuka out of Ryoko's arms. "At least a baby girl can't pee in your face like Taro did," he laughed, "You go change your clothes and take a bath. I'll take care of our little barfing machine." Ryoko thanked him and teleported out of the room. Tenchi grabbed some tissues and began to wipe Mayuka's face. He wished that he wasn't so busy with the carrot fields and his shrine duties, so that he could spend more time with his daughter. Tenchi pictured himself and Ryoko raising Mayuka together. Ryoko had changed so much. He knew that she'd make a wonderful mother for Mayuka. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Noodles?" he said, calling Mayuka by her nickname.

"Da!" she exclaimed. Her little hand reached out and grasped one of her daddy's fingers. Tenchi grinned. His daughter was going to be a strong kid.

Just then, Nobuyuki came into the kitchen. Tenchi began to wonder if everyone was going to get up early today. "Hurry up, son!" said Nobuyuki, "This is the perfect time to sneak out of here!"

"Huh?" said Tenchi, "You mean we're leaving today?"

"This is the day we agreed on," his father replied, "Don't you remember?"

"Oh, man, I forgot!" said Tenchi, "Umm ... look, Dad, I was kinda hoping that I could spend the day with Ryoko..."

Nobuyuki grinned. "Now, son," he said, "Don't think that I've forgotten about what happened last night. It's another reason why this fishing trip is necessary. The thing is, you need to spend time alone with your old man, learning about what kind of things to do with a girl!"

"Dad..." Tenchi groaned, turning red. Good grief, had his father overheard what Ryoko said?

"Besides," Nobuyuki continued, "last night made me realize just how much my son is growing up! I just want to spend some time with you. I'm so proud!"

"Well," said Tenchi, "couldn't we just fish from the lake outside?"

"Of course not," his father replied, "we have to make sure that it'll be just us guys for a few days!"

"Urp!" Mayuka spat up onto Tenchi's shirt.

"Geez," said Tenchi, "exactly how much did Ryoko feed you, anyway?"

"Never mind that," said Nobuyuki, "just take that shirt off and get into the van. Everything's packed already, so you can get a fresh shirt there. I'll take care of everything here."

"Okay," said Tenchi, deciding that there was no point in trying to argue. Besides, he didn't like to break his promises, and Ryoko had said that it was all right with her. He handed Mayuka over to his father, then removed his shirt and placed it on the counter. He turned to leave, then suddenly thought of what his father had said about it being "just us guys". Tenchi swallowed. "Uh, Dad?" he asked, "Do you promise that you're just taking me fishing?"

"Of course!" said Nobuyuki, looking a bit insulted. Tenchi sighed and left the kitchen. Nobuyuki reached into his pocket and pulled out the note he had written for the rest of the household. It explained that he and Tenchi would be on a fishing trip for a few days, but did not give the location of the place they were going to. After all, he had to make sure that it would be just the guys, right? He placed the note on the kitchen counter. Now all he had to do was put Mayuka back in her crib, and put Tenchi's shirt into the clothes hamper.

Washu stepped into the kitchen just then. "Hey, why is everyone getting up so early today?" she asked, rubbing her eyes, "I don't wanna miss anything!"

"Uhh ... just read the note!" said Nobuyuki. He dashed out of the kitchen, stopping only to hand Mayuka over to Washu.

Washu just stood there until she heard the sound of the family van pulling away. "What now?" she murmured, walking towards the kitchen counter. She read the note. "Oh, I see. Really, that Nobuyuki is such a bad influence on your daddy, isn't he, Noodles?" she said to Mayuka, "I mean, making Tenchi leave without saying goodbye to my little Ryoko! Not to mention getting him to leave his dirty laundry lying around." She eyed the shirt and wrinkled her nose.

Washu put Mayuka in her highchair and took a closer look at Tenchi's shirt. "Yecch," she said, "How much did they feed you?" The laundry had already been done yesterday, but that was no problem. Rather than wait for the next laundry day, Washu decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try out her new portable washing machine. Okay, so it was not one of her more spectacular inventions, but Washu had decided that it would be a good thing to have, with a baby in the house. Washu chuckled to herself. She had been right, as usual.

Summoning her portable computer out of thin air, Washu pressed something on the transparent black keyboard. A small, transparent black box with an image of a crab on it appeared on the counter. Washu opened the lid of the box and placed Tenchi's shirt inside. She closed the lid and pressed the crab icon. Water and detergent suddenly materialized in the box, and the shirt swirled around as the box made a WHUM-WHUM-WHUM sound. Washu smiled with satisfaction.

Washu's smile turned to a slight frown when the box began to shake violently. All of a sudden, the box began to bounce end-over-end along the kitchen counter. It leapt over to the kitchen window and phased through it, still happily WHUM-WHUM-WHUM-ing away. The sound grew fainter as the box bounced off into the distance. "Oh, no you don't!" Washu said. She pressed a button on her computer to call it back, but the box did not return. "Something tells me that Mihoshi has been playing with my equipment again" Washu muttered.

---

At the onsen, Ryoko hummed a cheery tune as she removed her barf-splattered dress and prepared it for the clothes hamper. It was her blue and yellow dress with the tail. Ryoko smiled as she thought again of the words Tenchi had said to her while she had been wearing the dress the night before. Now she would forever think of it as the dress she had worn when her greatest wish had come true. That was why she had been wearing the dress this morning, even though it promised to be one of those hot summer days when lighter clothes are more appropriate.

"Oh well, guess I don't have much choice now, huh?" Ryoko murmured. She had brought her red tank top and denim shorts to put on after she took her bath. "See you later," Ryoko said to her dress as she put it into the hamper. She wiggled the tail with her hand to make it look as if the dress were waving goodbye to her. She smiled to herself. Maybe she ought to convince Tenchi to join her sometime for a nice bath and some sake...

---

It was beginning to look like a beautiful day. The tall sunflowers seemed eager to great the sun as it rose into the sky. The birds were chirping as Ayeka walked towards the onsen. They just sounded so cheerful and happy and ... "Will you birds shut up!" Ayeka snapped, feeling irritable from lack of sleep. Her outburst startled the birds and they scattered, squawking with fright. They made so much racket that Ayeka realized that she would have been better off if she had just let them keep chirping. She sighed. She slid open the door to the onsen and stepped inside. Ayeka was just about to put down her towels and disrobe when she suddenly realized that Ryoko was sitting in the water.

"Uhh ... hi, Ayeka," said Ryoko.

Ayeka simply stared at her former rival. Rival? Oh no, there was more to it than that. How could she ignore all the small hints of that "more"? What about when they had stormed the Soja together? Or when Ryoko had saved her from falling debris during the fight with Kagato? The list went on and on, really. Sharing a good drink. Talking to each other when the sixteen-year-old Mayuka had arrived and turned their lives upside down. Holding each other when Yuzuha was destroyed. Oh, damnation, and it would have been so much easier if she could just be angry with Ryoko! However, if Tenchi had to choose someone else, then the princess was ... well, maybe not HAPPY that it was Ryoko, but ... oh, damnation, what in the name of the First Tree was someone supposed to say in this kind of situation?

An eternity seemed to pass before Ayeka began to speak, using all the royal training and poise she could muster. "Miss Ryoko, I ... I am sorry for not realizing sooner that Lord Tenchi's heart belonged to you. I must apologize for being in the way for so long. What I want most is for Lord Tenchi to be happy, and so I wish for you to be happy as well. I am sorry. I have been insensitive and selfish, and ... and ... Lord Tenchi deserves better than that!" She suddenly dropped the towels she had been carrying and ran outside, crying.

So much for poise.

---

Sasami was awakened by something making a WHUM-WHUM-WHUM sound outside, which eventually faded. Her forehead felt a bit tingly, like it sometimes did after she had a scary dream, but she couldn't even remember having any dreams. Sitting up, Sasami noticed that her sister was gone. Glancing at the side of her futon, Sasami realized that Ryo-Oh-Ki was gone, too. It was only sunrise. Why had they gotten up so early? Sasami became so worried about Ayeka that she didn't feel sleepy anymore. She dressed and went downstairs.

Sasami saw that Mihoshi and Kiyone were asleep on the living room couch. They had fallen asleep with the TV on. As Sasami shut off the TV, Washu came out of the kitchen carrying Mayuka.

"Look at those two," Washu said, eyeing the pair on the couch, "They must have been up all night, watching that soap opera marathon."

"Washu, have you seen Ayeka?" asked Sasami.

"Ayeka?" said Washu, "No, I haven't."

Mihoshi suddenly opened her eyes and sat up, startling Sasami and Washu. "Good morning," Mihoshi said, yawning.

"Well, I'm surprised," Washu said to Mihoshi, "Aren't you usually a very sound sleeper?"

"Oh, yes," said Mihoshi, "but I guess I must be really hungry."

Washu turned to Sasami. "I have an idea," she said, "Why don't you make a nice breakfast to help Ayeka feel better?" Seeing the worried expression on Sasami's face, Washu added, "I can help you, if you like."

"Oh, can I help, too?" asked Mihoshi, "Let's wake up Kiyone, I'm sure she'd also like to help!"

"Okay," said Sasami, a small smile forming on her face. She certainly was grateful to have such a wonderful "family". From Washu's arms, Mayuka made a cooing sound, as if she was thinking the same thing.

"Oh, alright," said Washu. She made a face and held up the note that Nobuyuki had written. "We don't need to make any breakfast for Tenchi or his father, though."

---

Ryoko was still sitting in the waters of the onsen, wondering what to do. After all, Washu had said last night that Ayeka should be left alone for awhile. "Ah, the heck with what Mom said!" Ryoko told herself, "It's not like she's right all of the time!" Getting dressed, Ryoko went outside and prepared to look for Ayeka.

Ryoko didn't get very far before she was nearly run over by the Masaki family van, which was filled to near bursting point with luggage and fishing supplies. She saw Nobuyuki at the wheel, with Tenchi sitting beside him. Flying beside the van, she caught Tenchi's attention and grinned. Tenchi looked absolutely mortified. She blew him a kiss and waved goodbye. Tenchi relaxed visibly and mouthed the words "I love you". Ryoko mouthed the words "Oh, is that why you're fleeing?". She laughed and winked at him.

"How come boys have so much luggage?" Ryoko said to herself, watching the van speed away. The guys were leaving, which meant that Nobuyuki had left several cases of sake in his room for Ryoko. Hey, she wasn't going to recite all that stuff about why lovers should temporarily separate, unless it was worth her while! Well, at least Nobuyuki was finally showing some real interest in spending quality time with his son. Normally, nothing could part the man from his secret supply of sake. In truth, she didn't really care all that much about the bribe, but she had decided that letting Nobuyuki get what he wanted was a way to have a good relationship with her future father-in-law (she had already begun to think of him as that). Besides, since Tenchi didn't know all this, when he returned she could insist on getting some SPECIAL attention to make up for his absence. She chuckled, then remembered that she was supposed to be looking for Ayeka. Turning serious, she continued her search.

Where could that princess have gone to so quickly? Ryoko thought about what she should say to Ayeka once she found her. Ryoko remembered the night that Tenchi had slapped her, and she had gone to hide at the tree Funaho. Ayeka had found her and talked to her. They had shared their feelings, which they didn't do all that often (except maybe when they drank too much).

Ryoko knew that she should assure Ayeka that she had not been insensitive all this time. "I mean, even I wasn't sure how Tenchi felt about me until last night," Ryoko thought aloud, "How could any of us have known?" Ryoko decided that, after talking with Ayeka, she would share some of her newly acquired sake with the princess. After all, despite the way things sometimes seemed, Ayeka was her friend. Heck, once Ryoko married Tenchi, Ayeka would be FAMILY! A whisper in the back of Ryoko's mind told her that Ayeka already was family, and had been for a long time. "Ah, shut up, Zero!" Ryoko replied, laughing good-naturedly.

---

Ayeka, meanwhile, had run deep into the woods. She stood there, crying silently. She thought again of Tenchi, and of Yosho. "What made me think that things would be any different from the last time?" she asked herself sadly. What was wrong with her? Why was she so ... unloved? Yosho had left Jurai to hunt for Ryoko, with the intention of never returning. Now, Tenchi had chosen Ryoko over her. Although it would be easy to blame Ryoko for all her troubles, Ayeka knew that the former space pirate was not the source of the problem.

She remembered all the times her father, Azusa, had told her that she had to learn how to behave like a princess: always acting stiff, formal, and well mannered. What for? It only seemed to scare away the men she loved. The only ones who seemed determined for her hand were insincere creeps like Seiryo, who only wanted to marry her for power. Not only that, but Ayeka realized that her father's wives, Misaki and Funaho, did not usually act like conventional Juraian royalty. So why did she have to?

Ayeka remembered the time when her father had insulted Tenchi, but then said that his Earthling wife Funaho was "different". So was she considered different from Misaki and Funaho? Why? Come to think of it, Prince Yosho had also been allowed to act unlike the other Juraian royals. Why not her?

Although Ayeka used to tell herself that she would probably go back to Jurai if Tenchi fell in love with someone else, she knew that she did not want to. Jurai was a beautiful world that she loved dearly, but she only wanted to go back if Tenchi agreed to marry her and become emperor. Tenchi had welcomed her into his home, and she had wanted so much for him to accompany her to Jurai's royal palace, so she could share someplace wonderful with him. Tenchi was a good and honest person, and she knew that he could be trusted to rule Jurai fairly. (It also did not hurt that, in addition to a heart of gold, he had the body of an Adonis!) While it was true that Tenchi had not been raised for the royal life, that did not matter to Ayeka. He had true compassion and understanding, and that was all that Ayeka needed.

Also, Yosho and Tenchi were the only men of Juraian royal blood who would respect her and allow her to truly have a say in the rule of the empire. To go home without Tenchi would mean dooming herself to a restricted life, as well as a loveless marriage to some snob. Why did her father think that it was so important for her to marry one of those imbeciles, anyway? They were more concerned with power than with the welfare of the Juraian people. Ayeka simply couldn't marry someone who saw her as a tool for obtaining power, instead of seeing a real person.

But what else was there to do now? She could not turn her back on the people of Jurai. However, she couldn't possibly help her people if she married someone who expected her to be a "good little wife" and back any decision he made, no matter how stupid it was. If she ended up doing that to her beloved planet, then it would probably be better if she didn't go back at all. Did things have to be this way?

"What a load of crap," Ayeka growled. "Yes, you heard me!" she shouted at no one in particular, "I said 'what a load of CRAP'!" Summoning her Jurai power, Ayeka fired an energy blast at a nearby boulder. Bits of stone broke off and flew through the air. "Why, Father? It's not fair!" she shouted. Fresh tears came to her eyes, but she ignored them. Ayeka made her miniature logs appear in the air. Tentacles shot out of them and wrapped around the boulder, beginning to crush it to pieces. Although Ayeka normally did not vent her frustration in this way (except when she used to fight with Ryoko), the princess admitted to herself that it felt rather good.

As Ayeka watched the stone crumble, her forehead began to feel tingly, like it had when she woke up. She felt the power within her build to unusual levels. What was this? Frightened, she quickly willed her logs to disappear. The logs vanished, but the tingling sensation, and the power buildup, did not. Her tiara began to give off a strange silvery light. _What is happening to me?_ Ayeka asked herself. The silver light was growing brighter. Her eyes widened in terror when she realized that she was about to lose control of her power.

---

Ryo-Oh-Ki hopped through the tall grass, enjoying the lovely summer morning. She loved the coolness of the morning dew on her paws, and the tickle of the grass brushing against her face. She had awakened early because she had been able to sense, through her mental link, that Ryoko was awake. Deciding to join her friend/half-sister for a bath, she had left Sasami in the bedroom and headed for the onsen.

However, the cabbit had soon forgotten all about Ryoko when she had encountered a fascinating little curiosity: a strange box making a WHUM-WHUM-WHUM noise. Something made of green fabric had been swirling around inside it. The box had been bouncing along the ground, and Ryo-Oh-Ki had decided that it would be great fun to chase it, so that was what she had been doing. However, it seemed that the box had gotten tired of the game, because it teleported away.

Ryo-Oh-Ki decided to forget about the box when she saw Ryoko approaching. "Miya!" she greeted her, "M'ya miya!"

"Good morning to you, too," Ryoko replied, smiling warmly, "Say, have you seen Ayeka around here?"

"Mi-ya-a? Miya, mi myiaa."

"Oh, so you haven't, huh?" Ryoko said, "Well, would you help me look for her?"

"Mii, ya!"

"Great! Let's go!" Ryoko began to walk towards the woods. Ryo-Oh-Ki hopped along by her side. The little cabbit realized why Ryoko was looking for Ayeka. The princess was undoubtedly upset about what had happened the night before. Ryo-Oh-Ki thought back to the day of her hatching, when she and Tenchi had comforted Ayeka. Back then, Ayeka had been feeling lost and alone on planet Earth, and had been missing Yosho terribly.

Through the mental link, the cabbit learned from Ryoko that Tenchi would be gone for a few days. Ryo-Oh-Ki told herself that she wouldn't let that stop her from doing her best to help Ayeka again. Besides, she had Ryoko with her. The cabbit believed that the two of them together could accomplish anything, whether it was storming the Soja, or helping a friend.

---

Meanwhile, the priest of the Masaki shrine, Katsuhito Masaki (formerly Prince Yosho of Jurai) was standing outside on the shrine steps, watching the sunrise. He thought about his late visit to Washu's lab the night before. He had brought Washu a snack, since she often worked so hard that she didn't always remember to eat properly. As it turned out, she actually had eaten dinner this time. Still, his trip had not been wasted, because Washu had told him the news about his grandson. Tenchi had declared his love for her daughter Ryoko.

Katsuhito had been pleased to hear the happy news, but he was also concerned for Ayeka. He imagined that she had not taken this very well. Still, he also knew that, despite her gentleness, she was a very strong woman. He wondered how she was dealing with this. Even though he had not wanted to marry Ayeka, he did love her like the younger sister that she was.

Just then, the birds stopped singing, as if something had frightened them into silence. This was how they often behaved right before an earthquake began. The hairs on the back of Katsuhito's neck suddenly stood on end. There was a strange feeling in the air. What was happening? The priest's instincts told him to go into the woods. He ran off in that direction to investigate.

---

Ryoko could see a silver light shining between the trees ahead of her. She and Ryo-Oh-Ki approached the area cautiously, and saw Ayeka standing near a pile of broken stones. It was the princess' tiara that was giving off the silver light. Ryoko noticed the panic-stricken look on Ayeka's face. "Hey ... what's wrong?" she asked, worried.

Ayeka, her voice tense, managed to say "Ryoko ... watch ... out..." before the silvery light spread from her tiara to cover her entire body. The light became intensely bright, and then was suddenly released from her body in the form of a dozen energy blasts.

Ryoko tried to throw herself onto Ryo-Oh-Ki to protect her, but she wasn't fast enough. She heard Ryo-Oh-Ki cry out in pain, just before she herself was struck in the face by searing silver fire.

---

Katsuhito was running through the woods when the energy blasts came flying through the air. Birds screeched and scattered as several trees were felled. Katsuhito dropped to the ground and covered his head with his arms. Shards of wood and flying bits of stone fell onto him. He stayed where he was until all was silent. Raising his head and looking around, Katsuhito was relieved to see that there were no flames, although there was a burnt smell all around. Quickly getting up, he ran to the source of the energy blasts. He saw Ayeka standing there, looking horrified. Lying on the ground in front of her, unmoving, were Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki.

Katsuhito's heart nearly stopped at the sight of smoke rising from Ryoko's eye sockets.

---

Inside the Masaki home, Kiyone was setting the table for breakfast. Sasami was stirring something in a pot, while Mihoshi handed her some ingredients. Washu was busy chopping still more ingredients. Smiling while she worked, Washu thought that maybe she should help in the kitchen more often. She hadn't done any cooking for the household since Taro's first visit, and that was several years ago.

_I wonder where Ryoko is right now?_ Washu thought. Although she had a mental link with her daughter, Washu no longer invaded Ryoko's thoughts like she used to. She knew that it would ruin the relationship they were finally trying to build. They now only used the link to talk to each other, like making a phone call without a phone.

Washu dropped her kitchen knife when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her skull. _What's wrong?_ she asked Ryoko through the link. Washu received no answer. Alarmed, she reached out to her daughter's mind again, but it was completely unresponsive. Washu screamed.

"Washu!" said Mihoshi, her voice full of concern, "Washu, are you okay?"

"Ryoko!" Washu cried, "No! Ryoko!"

---

_Does Dad have to take the scenic route?_ Tenchi asked himself. Nobuyuki had been driving for several hours now, and there was still no indication that they were anywhere near their destination. Nobuyuki had been talkative during the beginning of the drive, making jokes and eagerly going on and on about how many fish they would catch, but now he was mostly silent and only made some small talk now and then. Although Tenchi sometimes wished that he and his father talked more often, right now he was glad for the silence, since it allowed him to just sit quietly and think.

Most of Tenchi's thoughts were about Ryoko. At the moment, as strange as it might sound, all Tenchi could think about were her hands. They certainly were very strong hands. Hands that had clenched into powerful fists many times. Hands could bend metal with ease, or wield a deadly energy sword. They were also the hands that gently held Mayuka before she went to sleep every night. They were the hands that had so tenderly and lovingly brushed away his tears the night before. Such beautiful hands.

_Aw, geez,_ Tenchi thought, _I'm starting to think like a shojo manga character._ But he didn't really mind.

Tenchi then glanced down at his own hands. They had calluses from working in the carrot fields, as well as a few scrapes from his martial arts training. _Thanks a lot, Grandpa._ They were the hands that had held Yosho's sword, Tenchiken, in countless battles. They were the hands that had wiped the barf from Mayuka's face this morning. Tenchi's eyes focused on his right hand. That was the hand that had slapped Ryoko last year.

Tenchi felt the extreme guilt that he always did whenever he remembered that incident. He had apologized to Ryoko, but it didn't make him feel any less ashamed of himself. He silently vowed that he would do everything he could for Ryoko, to make it up to her.

The feelings of guilt caused Tenchi's thoughts to wander to Ayeka. _Aw, man!_ Tenchi almost banged his head on the dashboard in frustration with himself. How could he have forgotten about Ayeka? How could he just leave the house when she was undoubtedly upset?

_Why did I leave on this stupid trip?_ Tenchi thought. His eyes came to rest on his father. Tenchi felt a fresh wave of guilt wash over him. _You jerk,_ he scolded himself, _Just yesterday you were wishing that you could have had more time with Mom before she died, and now you don't want to spend any time with Dad?_ Tenchi lowered his eyes and stared at his hands again. _Hypocrite!_ he said to himself.

---

It was night by the time they arrived at the cabin where they would be staying. It was a place that belonged to a friend and co-worker of Nobuyuki's. For the next few days, it was going to be just Nobuyuki and Tenchi. Just the guys. "Here we are, Tenchi!" Nobuyuki said to his son. Stepping out of the van, Nobuyuki glanced at the lake where they would be fishing, just a short walk away from the cabin. The light of a full moon shone down on the water. Turning his head, he saw that Tenchi was still sitting in the van, staring at his hands. Nobuyuki frowned. His son had been doing that a lot during the last part of their trip. Nobuyuki wondered if it had been a mistake to make Tenchi come all the way out here at this time. Perhaps he should have let Tenchi have more time with Ryoko first. It was just that Nobuyuki had never spent much quality time with Tenchi before, and now that his son seemed to be growing up so fast, he had been eager to go on this trip.

_What are you doing?_ Nobuyuki asked himself, _First you could never be bothered to spend time with your son, and now you drag him away from the woman he loves? Can't you even remember how much you loved being with your wife? What kind of father are you?_

Nobuyuki stared at the ground and nearly wished that it would just open up and swallow him. His wife had always been the more considerate one. She had always known the right thing to say to him or to Tenchi. As much as Nobuyuki loved his son, he just couldn't seem to express that properly without his wife's guidance, and she had been gone for over a decade now. Nobuyuki had coped with the death of his wife by hiding the pain behind the personality of a hentai. Tenchi, on the other hand, showed an exceptional amount of compassion and sensitivity towards others. He was so like his mother.

"Dad?"

Nobuyuki turned his head and was surprised to see that Tenchi was standing beside him. "Yes?" he said.

"Dad ... let's unpack, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Nobuyuki asked.

Tenchi nodded.

---

A while later, Nobuyuki and Tenchi sat on the grass outside the cabin, facing the lake. Neither of them spoke; they were both lost in their own thoughts. Nobuyuki saw that his son was staring up at the sky. Raising his own head, Nobuyuki looked at the view of the stars. Didn't Ryoko always sing a song to Mayuka about stars and happy dreams?

"Tenchi?" said Nobuyuki.

"Hmm?"

"Are you thinking about Ryoko?"

"Yes."

Nobuyuki saw that his attempt at starting a conversation was not getting very far. He tried his best to sound cheerful as he said: "Say, I was wondering, what made you tell Ryoko how you felt about her? Was it something your old man taught you?" Nobuyuki had decided that even to get Tenchi to groan and shout "Dad!" would be better than sitting in silence.

He heard Tenchi take a deep breath, then let it out in a long sigh. "Dad? Do you remember the last time we took Mom to visit Grandpa?"

Nobuyuki nodded.

"You weren't in the room when it happened," said Tenchi, his voice almost a whisper.

"When what happened, Tenchi?"

"I was bored. I was trying to get Mom to play with me, but she was too tired. I didn't want to think that anything was wrong with her. It was so much easier to believe that she was just sleeping all the time to be mean. S-so I got mad and told her that I hated her..."

Nobuyuki was shocked by this revelation, but remained silent.

"I felt bad about it," Tenchi continued, "Later that day, I brought her some tea and said that I was sorry, but I didn't think to tell her that I loved her. It was one of the stupidest mistakes I ever made. Dad ... that was on the day she went into a coma! And three days after that sh-she ... she... That was when..." he choked and could not continue.

"She slipped away," Nobuyuki finished for him, his voice shaking. The tears that he held back far too often came to his eyes. This time he simply let them run down his face.

Tenchi nodded and choked back a sob. "I ... I don't want to make the same mistake with Ryoko," Tenchi managed to say, "I want her to always know that I love her, because we never ... we never know what could..."

Nobuyuki suddenly leaned forward and threw his arms around his son. "Tenchi, your mother always knew that you loved her! She always knew!" he said.

Nobuyuki could feel his son trembling, and tried to find something else to say. Nothing came to mind.

It was almost as frustrating and heartbreaking as the day that his wife had died. He hadn't been able to say anything to his son, so the boy had run off to that cave. Nobuyuki had been left alone, staring at the falling snow and thinking that he could never be whole again, not without his wife's light. Not without her love, her songs, her wisdom. Not without her waltzing with him outside in the moonlight, when Tenchi was asleep. Having a son to raise had given Nobuyuki a reason to carry on, but a part of him had been lost, never to return.

_Live forever, Ryoko,_ Nobuyuki thought, _Please don't let this happen to Tenchi_. Nobuyuki looked up at the stars. Stars and happy dreams. Ryoko being who she was, and Tenchi being who he was, it actually was possible for them to share the stars and their happy dreams forever, wasn't it? Nobuyuki's silent plea was behind every tear that slid down his face. He imagined the tears evaporating, rising up to the stars that would hopefully grant that wish. They had to, they just HAD to.

"I love you, Dad," Tenchi suddenly whispered.

Nobuyuki wanted to say "I love you too" but it just felt so meaningless in comparison to anything Tenchi expressed.

_Thank God you're not like me,_ Nobuyuki thought as he silently held his son, _Don't ever be like me._

---

At the same time, in the Masaki home, Sasami sat on the living room couch. She was feeding Mayuka. No one else was really hungry. Sasami had prepared some food, but most of them had just eaten a few bites. Sitting next to Sasami was Kiyone, who was continuously glancing at the clock. Mihoshi paced restlessly back and forth behind the couch. Katsuhito sat in a corner of the room, an unreadable expression on his face. Ayeka knelt by one of the windows. She had been praying for hours, letting out a small sob every once in a while. She had refused to eat anything.

When Katsuhito had rushed into the house that morning, carrying Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki in his arms, he had almost run over a frantic Washu, who had been on her way out to find Ryoko. She had immediately changed direction and made a dash for her lab, instructing Katsuhito to bring Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki inside. Fifteen minutes later, she had sent him out of the lab with the message that no one was to disturb her until she came out. Even Kiyone, her lab assistant, wasn't allowed to go in. Everyone had been waiting outside the door to Washu's lab ever since. They still hadn't heard anything from the scientist.

Sasami looked worriedly at her older sister. She knew that Ayeka hadn't hurt Ryoko on purpose, but Ayeka still blamed herself. The older princess had refused to let anyone comfort her. She just kept praying, and turned away whenever anyone tried to talk to her.

---

Inside her lab, Washu grabbed a small tool from a tray that was floating beside her. "Hold still, Ryoko," she told her daughter, "I'm going to start adjusting the eyes now." She began to gently poke at the artificial eye that she had implanted in Ryoko's right eye socket. The pupil of the eye dilated and contracted in response to Washu's probes. Washu frowned for the hundredth time that day. She just couldn't understand why Ryoko's original eyes had not regenerated like they should have. Washu had run numerous tests, and had finally decided that the only thing she could do was give Ryoko mechanical replacements for her ruined eyes.

While he had been in the lab, Katsuhito had told Washu what he knew of the energy blasts that had caused the damage, and the redheaded scientist was completely baffled. If those blasts had been able to topple trees, why hadn't Ryoko's head been blown off? Instead, it had destroyed only her eyes, but without even burning her eyelashes.

"How's Ryo-Oh-Ki?" asked Ryoko.

"She's still comatose," Washu replied. She began to make modifications to Ryoko's left eye. The pupil was not the same size as that of the other eye. Washu poked at the eye, and the pupil shrank. Washu frowned to herself again. What the blasts had done to Ryo-Oh-Ki was another puzzle. The cabbit had no external signs of injury whatsoever, but was unconscious and had to be kept on life support. None of Washu's tests had been able to determine what was wrong.

"Mom?"

"What is it, Ryoko?" asked Washu.

"Mom ... please don't be mad at Ayeka," said Ryoko, her voice trembling, "She'd never do something like this on purpose."

"I'm not mad," said Washu.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not mad," Washu repeated. Actually, she HAD been angry, but deep down she knew that it was not Ayeka's fault. Those blasts had not been a manifestation of Ayeka's usual Jurai powers. Something strange was definitely going on.

"Ryoko, don't cry," said Washu, "I'm not done with the calibration adjustments yet."

"Sorry," Ryoko murmured, sounding slightly embarrassed.

After a few minutes, Washu said, "Okay! Your new eyes are almost ready, and they look just like your old ones."

"Thanks, Mom"

"Just a bit more ... there, I'm done," said Washu. She placed her tool back on its tray.

Upon hearing her mother's words, Ryoko blinked a few times. Slowly, the room around her came into focus. She looked at Washu and gave a small smile. "Thanks, Mom," Ryoko said again.

Just then, an alarm went off. Washu ran to the little floating bed where Ryo-Oh-Ki lay, and read the information on several nearby monitors that were hooked up to the cabbit. "Oh no," said Washu, "Ryo-Oh-Ki's condition is getting worse."

"Can ... can she reproduce herself?" Ryoko asked.

"No," Washu replied sadly, "Whatever it is about those blasts that affected your self-healing ability has also affected her power to replicate."

Saddened, Ryoko got up from the chair on which she had been sitting. She was about to walk over to Ryo-Oh-Ki's bedside when her vision began to blur. "Oh..." she grunted, "Mom, something's wrong, I..."

A sudden stabbing pain in Ryoko's head caused her to scream and drop to her knees.

Washu saw this and began to run to her daughter's side. "Ryoko!" she exclaimed, "What is it?"

Ryoko covered her eyes with her hands and kept screaming. Washu grabbed Ryoko's hands and pulled them away from her face. She saw blood beginning to pour out of Ryoko's eyes like tears. "Oh God, no!" Washu shouted. With surprising strength for her small size, Washu quickly scooped Ryoko up in her arms and dashed for her operating table.

---

Several hours later, everyone in the living room was startled when the door to the lab suddenly opened and Washu stepped out. They all crowded around her except for Ayeka, who remained in a kneeling position on the floor with her head bowed.

"Can we see them?" Mihoshi asked anxiously.

Washu shook her head. "Ryoko wants to be left alone with Ryo-Oh-Ki right now."

"How are they?" Kiyone asked.

"Ryoko's body has rejected the prosthetic eyes," said Washu, her voice barely audible, "I don't know what else to do for her..."

"She's ... blind?" said Mihoshi, her lower lip beginning to tremble.

"What about Ryo-Oh-Ki?" Sasami asked in a small voice.

"She's dying," Washu said, staring at the floor.

Sasami began to cry. Mayuka seemed to pick up on Sasami's distress and began to cry also. Mihoshi and Kiyone immediately tried to comfort them, while Katsuhito spoke softly to Washu. Ayeka took the opportunity to slip outside. When the princess was sure that she was out of earshot, she let out a wail and then ran away from the house, crying and stumbling in the night.

---

_What have I done?_ Ayeka's mind screamed as she ran. In the darkness, she crashed through several bushes, the branches catching her skirt. She tried to kick them away, but stumbled and fell. When she tried to free herself, a branch tore her sleeve open. Ayeka finally broke away from the bushes and continued running. _What have I done?_ her mind screamed again.

"Oh, I know exactly what I have done!" she said to herself out loud, "I foolishly unleashed my powers when I knew that I was too upset to control them properly!"

She had done something unforgivable to Ryo-Oh-Ki, and to Lord Tenchi's beloved, Ryoko. She had wronged Tenchi, that was what she had done. She had wronged the one who had given her and Sasami a place to stay when they had become stranded on Earth. She had wronged the one who treated her with honest respect and kindness, unlike the insincere Juraian nobles who only sought her family's favor. She had wronged the one who liked her the way that she was, and who let her be herself.

_And who am I?_ her thoughts suddenly asked, _I tell myself that I hate the way Father made me adhere to strict Juraian royal traditions, and yet I have not changed the way I dress or speak during all the years I've been on planet Earth. I say that I want to serve the Juraian people, and yet I haven't been home for more than 700 years._

"And," Ayeka added out loud, "I say that I care about Lord Tenchi, and now I have hurt the one he loves most..."

Ayeka stopped running. She was in the clearing where Yuzuha had kidnapped Sasami the year before. Ayeka stood there and tried to catch her breath. Oh yes, she knew exactly what she had done. She had hurt Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki, whom Tenchi cared for very much, and who were also Ayeka's friends. Although Ayeka had argued with Ryoko quite often in the past, she knew that they had also helped each other many times. She had been thinking about that very thing just this morning, for crying out loud!

The truth was that Ryoko actually was one of the few true friends that Ayeka had. After all, she didn't know many people on Earth outside of the house. As for the people she had known back on planet Jurai, most of them had been either servants who would only say what they thought she wanted to hear, or those annoying nobles who did even more bootlicking. Ryoko was nothing like them. She was someone who always spoke her mind. Although that had irritated Ayeka many times, the princess had to admit that it had been a refreshing change from all that sucking up she had endured on Jurai. Besides, Ayeka had been able to sense the grudging respect hidden behind many of the things that Ryoko said.

"I must make this right somehow!" Ayeka said to herself. She began to run again, this time to the holy tree of the Masaki shrine. Ayeka made it to Funaho in record time, panting and gasping. She had taken even less time to arrive at her brother's space tree than she had last year, when she had asked for help to vanquish Yuzuha.

"Funaho," Ayeka said, once she had caught her breath, "I have done something terrible to one that Lord Tenchi loves ... someone I care about also. Please, I need your help."

Ayeka stood silently before the tree, until she realized that nothing was happening.

"Please, Funaho," said Ayeka, "I know that I have no right to ask for your help yet again, especially considering the fact that this is all my fault, but I implore you to do something for Miss Ryoko. Do not let her and Lord Tenchi suffer because of me."

Nothing happened.

Ayeka tried another tactic. "Tsunami!" she called out, shouting the name of the spirit who had created the Juraian royal family, "Tsunami! Please help me. Please, I beg you."

Again nothing happened. Ayeka dropped to her knees and prayed in front of Funaho. Nothing was happening. Ayeka became increasingly desperate.

"Please, Tsunami!" Ayeka cried, fresh tears coming out of her eyes, "Please, Tsunami! I will do anything!"

She brought her forehead down to the ground and stretched her arms out in front of her, palms upward. It was the Juraian sign of submission. Ayeka could not stop herself from shaking. Her breath came out in short gasps as she tried to stop crying. "Anything..." she sobbed.

Suddenly, a pair of ghostly arms lifted her in a strong yet gentle grip, and embraced her. Ayeka gazed at the face of the kneeling white figure who was holding her, and realized that it was Tsunami.

"Calm yourself, Ayeka," Tsunami whispered into her ear, "for you have passed but the first of many difficult tests to come."

"It's all my fault," Ayeka whimpered, not really listening to what Tsunami had just said.

"It is not your fault," Tsunami whispered, "It's mine."

Ayeka's mind whirled with confusion. Tsunami gently stroked the princess' face with a glowing white hand. Ayeka leaned her head onto Tsunami's shoulder, and the spirit began to run a hand through her hair. Tears were still coming down Ayeka's face, but she did feel much calmer. Ayeka thought about the fact that Tsunami was assimilating with Sasami, and realized just how much Tsunami seemed like a sister right now.

"Ayeka," said Tsunami, "I need you to do something for me..."

Raising her head, Ayeka opened her mouth to say that she would do anything, if it meant helping Ryoko. Instead, she blurted out, "Tsunami, who am I?" and then blinked in surprise at what she had just said.

Tsunami smiled, as if she had been hoping that Ayeka would ask that. "Princess Ayeka, you are like the caterpillar that approaches a time of transformation, a time that is both wonderful and frightening," she said, "You have been given a power that can be your chrysalis. If you emerge victorious at the end of the coming trials, you will be more than what you are now, like a new butterfly, free to find your full potential."

"What do you want me to do?" Ayeka whispered, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. "This power ... where did it come from?" she added.

"I will explain what I can," Tsunami said.

The two circular markings on Tsunami's forehead began to give off a golden light. In response, Ayeka's tiara began to give off a silver glow. Ayeka was frightened for a moment, but something in the back of her mind told her to relax and trust Tsunami. The spirit placed her hands on Ayeka's shoulders, then touched her forehead to the glowing tiara.

Understanding began to flow into Ayeka's mind, as if she had been in complete darkness and then the sun slowly rose and revealed the landscape to her.

Ayeka suddenly jerked her head away from Tsunami's, breaking the contact. "You wanted this to happen!" she shouted, "You did this to me, and intended for Miss Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki to be hurt like that!"

"Please..." said Tsunami, "Please let me continue." Sparkling tears formed in Tsunami's eyes, surprising Ayeka.

The princess reluctantly touched her forehead to Tsunami's again. As more information entered Ayeka's mind, she began to tremble. "But ... why?" she sobbed, "I can almost understand about me, but why do this to Miss Ryoko?"

"As you need to be tested, so does she," Tsunami whispered, "I know that it is not easy, but it is necessary. I am sorry."

"And ... Lord Tenchi?" asked Ayeka, afraid to know the answer, and yet feeling the need to hear it.

"His time will come." Tsunami replied.

"But you will help them, will you not?" asked Ayeka, "Just as you are helping me now?"

"Princess Ayeka, I will not be able to help them as much as you can," was the reply.

"Tell me, what must I do now?" Ayeka asked softly. The response came to Ayeka, not in words, but through the mental contact Tsunami had established. "I see ..." Ayeka whispered. A strange, sad smile appeared on her face. "So the butterfly must fly away?" she said.

Tsunami moved her forehead away from Ayeka's. The princess looked into Tsunami's eyes and saw that tears were forming there again. "I am most sorry, Ayeka," said Tsunami, "Please understand that I would not ask this of you if there were some other way. But also know that the final decision must be yours. I will not force you to do this."

Ayeka nodded slowly. "I said that I would do anything, and I intend to keep my word," she responded, "I will gladly do this for Miss Ryoko and Lord Tenchi ... for everyone."

Tsunami pulled Ayeka closer to her in a tight hug. "Thank you, Ayeka. Always remember that I believe in you. I would not have done this if I did not think that you were capable of the task."

Ayeka rested her head on Tsunami's shoulder again. "Tell me more about Lady Tokimi," she whispered.

"I am sorry, but I cannot," said Tsunami, "there are some things that you must discover yourself."

Ayeka nodded as she pulled away from Tsunami's embrace. She knelt in the water right in front of Funaho. Ayeka was no longer crying. Peace filled her mind. "Courage, courage, courage..." her soul whispered, and the princess finally understood what it meant. She presented her hands to Funaho, palms upward, almost like the Juraian sign of submission.

"I am ready now," Ayeka said quietly.

Two of Funaho's roots pulled themselves out of the ground and raised their ends to just above Ayeka's hands. Water dripped into Ayeka's palms. It reminded her of when Misaki used to kiss her palms and say "Now you're holding some of Mommy's love, so you don't have to be scared of anything."

"I'm not scared, Mother," Ayeka whispered.

She did not scream as Funaho's roots plunged into her wrists.

---

It was around this time that Katsuhito emerged from the Masaki home. After spending some time trying to comfort Washu, he had decided that he should look for Ayeka. Although his face showed no expression, his heart ached at the thought that Ayeka blamed herself for all this tragedy. Although the strange energy blasts had come from his sister, Katsuhito could sense that there was more to the day's events than the way things seemed on the surface. His instincts told him that he should try looking for her at Funaho. Walking up to the gateway guarded by Azaka and Kamidake, he was actually not all that surprised to see the glowing white figure of Tsunami appear between the guardians.

"Lord Yosho," said Tsunami, bowing her head.

"Tsunami," said Katsuhito, "what is happening to Ayeka?"

The spirit of the Tree of Light was silent for a few moments. "Lord Yosho, please do not go looking for Ayeka," she finally said.

Katsuhito frowned slightly. He was about to ask why when Tsunami suddenly spoke.

"You will understand when the time is right," she said.

Katsuhito nodded, his expression becoming unreadable again.

Tsunami looked at the two guardians. "Tell no one about what you have just seen," she said.

"Yes, ma'am!" the two giant logs replied.

Tsunami shimmered, then vanished. Sighing, Katsuhito began to walk to the shrine.

---

Darkness.

A bandage was wrapped around Ryoko's head to cover her eyes ... or rather, where she used to have eyes.

Even if it hadn't been night, there would still be nothing but darkness.

Ryoko was lying on the roof, alone. Her stomach growled, but she ignored it. She had not eaten all day. She had told Washu to make sure that NO ONE was able to disturb her. She had also instructed her mother to not make any attempt to locate Tenchi and Nobuyuki.

Darkness.

Ryoko absolutely hated the darkness, since it reminded her of the 700 years she had spent imprisoned in that damn cave. The first century had been the worst. Alone in the darkness and the cold, stripped of her power gems, Ryoko had spent countless hours feeling along the same walls over and over again, desperate to find any means of escape. She had screamed and cried and begged Yosho to let her out. It hadn't been her idea to attack Jurai! She had been under Kagato's control! She had been a slave, nothing more! She wanted to be let out, she HAD to be let out! But no one ever heard her cries. She was left alone for centuries.

As the years passed, Ryoko learned how to store up enough power to project a weak astral body outside the cave, so that she could see and hear whatever was outside. She could not feel the warm sunlight or smell the wildflowers, but at least she could finally see them, she could hear the birds that greeted the rising sun, and the bees that visited the flowers. It was a welcome relief from all those centuries of darkness.

Then, one day, Ryoko saw the greatest miracle of all. The gray-haired woman, the woman who, judging from her aura, was a descendent of Yosho, had come by again. A little baby had been strapped to her back. The baby had turned his head and looked directly at Ryoko, his brown eyes sparkling with interest.

"Yes. What's the matter, Tenchi?" the gray-haired woman had said to her child, "Do you see a monster?"

Ryoko's heart had jumped. The baby had seen her! Better still, he certainly hadn't LOOKED like he had seen a monster. His eyes had held none of the fear that countless other pairs of eyes had shown before, eyes that had seen her during her days as the most wanted space pirate in the universe.

As more years went by, the boy Tenchi had continued to come by the cave, sometimes with that woman - his mother - and sometimes on his own. By that time, he seemed to have "outgrown" the ability to see or hear Ryoko, but she had cherished his visits to the cave nonetheless.

It had been because of Tenchi that Ryoko's loneliness had lessened. It was through watching him that she had experienced a real, normal childhood for the first time, and had seen what it was like to have a mother.

Those days and years were ones that Ryoko would never forget, especially the snowy day when Tenchi's mother had died. In all the centuries that Ryoko had been so desperate to be able to leave her prison, she had not felt the need to escape as intensely as that day, when she had seen Tenchi crying for his mother. Ryoko had tried to place her hand on him, had tried to wipe away his tears, had wanted so much to do something to comfort him, but could not. Ryoko had been devastated. To be unable to help the one who had made her so happy ... never before had she felt so useless, so unworthy to have known someone!

It was on that day that Ryoko vowed to do whatever it took to get out of that God-forsaken cave and protect Tenchi, so that nothing would ever hurt him again. She had focused much of her energy on creating a gem that would allow her to break free, even as she continued to watch over Tenchi. She had laughed when she saw the call of nature overwhelm the boy, so that he had to urinate right in front of the cave. She had laughed even harder when, the next day, he cooked a potato ... and dropped it right onto the spot where he had urinated the day before!

As Tenchi grew, Ryoko watched him become more handsome by the day. Being a space pirate (Kagato's tool, really), Ryoko had traveled all over the universe and observed many people. She had never seen such sincere eyes, such a warm smile. His lean, muscular body wasn't bad either...

When Tenchi broke into the cave one day, it should have been the greatest moment of Ryoko's life. It hadn't turned out quite so well. Having devoted most of her energy to creating a power gem to escape, her body had deteriorated, making her not much more than a mummy. Thinking she was a monster, Tenchi had run away, and Ryoko had been devastated once more.

By the time she had managed to restore her power (and her beauty), Tenchi's summer vacation had ended, and he was back at school. She had decided to fly over there and give him a good scare, just to tease him a bit. She had planned on giving him a little excitement, showing him how powerful she was, and then backing him into a corner. He would look fearfully at the "demon" who claimed to want revenge, and then she would suddenly smile and embrace him. Then Tenchi would get the joke, and be so happy that he had met such a powerful woman who loved him and wanted to protect him ... unfortunately, that plan hadn't turned out so well.

Still, at least she had been able to live with Tenchi ... along with all the other alien women who showed up. She had flirted with Tenchi and thrown her arms around him whenever she could. Ryoko had been able to tell that it made him uncomfortable, but she hadn't been able to resist the urge to tease him. That, and she simply liked to put her hands on him because she finally COULD. Damn that cave.

Then, several months later, all her worst nightmares came back to haunt her. Her master had come to claim her. Kagato was back. He had called Ryoko defective, and said that she was "waste product". But his worst deed was yet to come. Even though he had used that damn mind control on her, even though he had forced her to attack countless people, and called her useless and defective, he had not committed his worst crime yet. His most unforgivable act was when Tenchi had come to rescue her from the Soja, and Kagato had killed him. Killed him, and laughed. He had destroyed the only person she had ever loved, and then laughed at her pain, LAUGHED at the idea that anyone would die for her.

Worse, Ryoko had failed to keep her vow to protect Tenchi.

She had done her best to try to kill Kagato, to take revenge for what he had done to her ... and more importantly, for what he had done to Tenchi, but she had failed in that, too. It was Tenchi, miraculously resurrected by the spirit Tsunami, who had killed Kagato.

After that, Ryoko had redoubled her efforts to protect Tenchi. She even used to watch over him while he slept. She could not, WOULD NOT allow anyone to harm him. He had died trying to save her. Her! She who had been called "waste product" all her life, had finally found someone who considered her worth something, actually worth facing death. Perhaps ... perhaps even worthy to be loved?

Yes.

Last night. He had said so last night: "Ryoko ... I love you."

But now, what could she do for him? Nothing. Nothing at all. She was in darkness again. She was helpless, unable to protect Tenchi. Again!

All the words that Kagato had said to her came back into her mind. Defective. Useless. Waste product. They were the words that he had used whenever he beat her, which was every time she failed a mission, or tried to disobey him. The physical damage never lasted, though. She was too well designed for that. Her body would always heal, so that he could beat her senseless again and again. Sometimes the beatings were for no reason at all, except to test how her self-healing ability would hold up. Oh, so amputations healed rather nicely. What would burns do? How about stab wounds? How about...

Where was her self-healing ability now? Why didn't her eyes regenerate? The blast that had destroyed them left a tingling sensation in her eye sockets. The unpleasant sensation reached through her skull, deep into her mind, and pulled her thoughts further down into sorrow. Every thought was dragged into the darkness, drowned in it.

Ryoko tried to cry, but she seemed unable to produce tears anymore. She whimpered and curled into a ball. Of course she had told everyone to leave her alone. How could she let them see her like this? How could she let Tenchi see her like this? She was weak. She was no longer able to protect Tenchi. She couldn't even protect herself.

Defective.

Useless.

Waste product.

---

It was the middle of the night, but Kiyone wasn't asleep yet. Brushing some of her dark green hair out of her eyes, the Galaxy Police detective took another look at the data she had been studying for the past while. She was sitting on a floating cushion in Washu's lab, reading various computer reports on the changes in Ryo-Oh-Ki's vital signs. Stifling a yawn, Kiyone took a sip of Washu's special "tea for hard-working geniuses", which helped to keep drowsiness away. She still had a lot of important work to do.

Kiyone had begun working as Washu's lab assistant shortly after she had become a member of the Masaki household. After all, the detective liked to keep her mind sharp, and helping Washu was always an interesting challenge. As an added bonus, she had learned enough about computer programming from Washu to get a job developing software, allowing her to become a second source of income for the ever-expanding Masaki "family".

The detective checked over her findings for the third time. She glanced up and saw Washu standing near the floating bed on which the comatose Ryo-Oh-Ki lay. Washu was preparing to use a razor to shave off a bit of the cabbit's fur, in order to take a blood sample.

"Professor Washu, I think I found a connection," said Kiyone, "I've been comparing the readings on Ryo-Oh-Ki's life signs with the lab's security tapes. It seems that the first time her condition worsened was shortly after you had to ask Ryoko to stop crying.

"The second time," Kiyone continued, "was when Ryoko's body rejected the replacement eyes. I also realized that the third time was when Ryoko isolated herself on the roof. Since then, Ryo-Oh-Ki's vital signs have grown steadily weaker."

Washu said nothing in reply to this.

Kiyone sighed. She was about to make a point that she had been arguing with Washu for most of the night. "I think," said Kiyone, "that Ryoko's negative emotions may be speeding up the decline in Ryo-Oh-Ki's health. Ryo-Oh-Ki can't possibly take much more of this! Please, Professor Washu, we have to find Tenchi now. Ryoko needs him, we can't just..."

Kiyone stopped speaking when she noticed that Washu was ignoring her, pretending to be busy sharpening the razor.

"Professor ... LITTLE Washu!" said Kiyone, raising her voice, "Are you even listening to me?"

Washu glanced up at Kiyone. Anger and frustration clearly showed on the little scientist's features. "How many times do you have to bring that up?" Washu demanded, "I keep telling you, I am not going to try to find Tenchi and Nobuyuki! Now, either be a good assistant and do something to assist me, or leave me alone!"

Sighing, Kiyone brought one hand to her forehead, feeling the headband she always wore there. Why was Washu being so difficult? She could understand that the woman was upset, and rightfully so, but stubbornly adhering to Ryoko's unreasonable requests wasn't helping anything at all! Ryo-Oh-Ki didn't have much time left. They needed to find Tenchi. If he could comfort Ryoko, then Ryo-Oh-Ki might have a better chance of survival. Heck, if anyone was allowed to comfort Ryoko, then that might improve the situation. However, Washu had even gone so far as to set up an energy barrier around the rooftop, just to be certain that no one disturbed her daughter.

It was ridiculous, plain and simple. Ryoko was too depressed to make rational decisions right now. Surely someone as logical as Washu should be able to see that. Besides, Tenchi and Nobuyuki had a right to know what was going on in their own house, for crying out loud! What would Tenchi say if he came home too late, and found that Ryo-Oh-Ki was dead, Ryoko emotionally dead, and Ayeka missing?

He had a right to know! Kiyone felt at her headband again. _Father..._ Shaking her head, Kiyone pushed the old memories away. She was supposed to be doing something about the present situation. "Professor Washu..." Kiyone began.

"I said, NO!" Washu shouted. Distracted, Washu let her hand slip, accidentally cutting a finger with the razor.

"Professor!" exclaimed Kiyone. The detective slid off her floating cushion and ran to Washu's side. The little scientist pushed her away.

Washu sucked absently at her injured finger for a moment before she spoke: "Kiyone, you don't understand. You just don't understand."

Kiyone was exasperated. "What? What don't I understand?"

"When I was rescued from Kagato," Washu said quietly, "I was finally reunited with my daughter. At first, I was happy about it, but ... she rejected me. She thought that I had abandoned her for those thousands of years. As far as she was concerned, I was not her mother."

Kiyone remained silent and waited for Washu to go on.

"I didn't understand it," said Washu, "I just didn't understand it. I tried to pretend it didn't hurt me. I teased her all the time. I kept using our mental link to read her thoughts. It ... it was wrong, but I kept doing it anyway. That link had been my only way of seeing the outside world when I was Kagato's prisoner, and I didn't see any reason to stop using it if she wouldn't talk to me."

Washu stared at the floor for several moments, then glanced back up at Kiyone. "I began to experiment with her," Washu continued, her gaze returning to the floor, "I teased her in every way possible, just to see how she would react. I pretended to be in love with Tenchi, because I thought that it was funny to make her jealous. One time, I even strapped her into some machinery and left her hanging there in the dark all night, even though I knew that she hated the dark."

Washu looked up and stared directly into Kiyone's eyes. "I was starting to become the person that I hated most," said Washu, her voice breaking, "I ... I was becoming as bad as Kagato."

Washu wrung her hands. "You weren't there, Kiyone! You don't know what things that monster did to my little girl! I was his prisoner. I saw what he did to her, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it! And after that ... what did I do after that? I went and started doing the exact same things!"

Tears slowly made their way down Washu's face. She looked like a lost child, but Kiyone knew better than to think of her as one. Washu wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her injured finger left a bloody streak across her face, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Ever since little Mayuka joined the family, Ryoko and I have been trying to understand one another," Washu said, her body shaking as she held back sobs, "After all this time, we've finally made some progress. I don't want to lose that, Kiyone! I love my daughter, and I don't ever want to hurt her again! I will search for Tenchi if she asks me to, but not a moment sooner. Do you understand? I will NOT go against my daughter's wishes!"

Kiyone was extremely upset at seeing the normally confident woman looking so distraught. She gently led Washu to a table covered with first-aid supplies, and began to clean the cut on her finger.

"I will not go against my daughter's wishes," Washu said again, her voice a shaky whisper this time, "Do you understand? Nothing is more important to me."

"You are nothing like Kagato," Kiyone said softly, "You never were." Kiyone thought of all the Galaxy Police officers, as well as countless other people, whom Kagato had tormented and killed, without the faintest bit of remorse. She gazed at the crying woman before her, someone who had so desperately longed for something that events had denied her for countless years: a family. No, Washu wasn't anything like Kagato. She was, however, human.

---

It may have been the middle of the night (actually, it was already almost time for sunrise to begin), but Sasami still had not fallen asleep. Even though she was tired from not getting enough sleep the night before, the young princess was too worried about Ryoko, Ryo-Oh-Ki, and Ayeka. Sasami was not even in her own room. She was lying on the futon Ryoko kept near Mayuka's crib. Since Ryoko had isolated herself on the roof, Sasami had decided to stay in Mayuka's room, in case the baby required anything.

Where had Ayeka gone? Tenchi's grandfather had gone looking for her many hours ago. If anyone could find her, it would be him. Sasami sat up. Perhaps Ayeka had come back, and she just hadn't heard her return. Ayeka could be in their room right now. Sasami decided to go and check. Being careful not to wake Mayuka, she quietly got up and left. Sasami tiptoed down the dark hall towards the room she shared with her sister. Maybe she would open the door and find that Ayeka was back, and was saying a prayer, or sleeping, or doing some needlepoint. Sasami ruled out the last possibility when she saw that no light was shining around the cracks in the door. Saying a silent prayer of her own, Sasami slid the door aside and turned on the light. She stared at the unoccupied futon that belonged to Ayeka. "Oh, Ayeka..." Sasami whispered, trying to fight back tears, "Ayeka, I need you."

---

Ayeka opened her eyes to find that she was standing in a vast, somewhat dark expanse that had no apparent floor or ceiling. However, it didn't much matter to Ayeka that there was no visible floor, so long as she didn't start falling. She realized that she was dressed in her combat outfit, and that bandages made from some kind of glowing tree bark were wrapped around her wrists. "Thank you, Funaho," said Ayeka.

A sudden shimmering in the air brought about the appearance of two rows of tall black statues, one row on either side of her. This at least gave the illusion that Ayeka was standing on a path of some sort. At the far end of this path loomed three very large statues shrouded in shadow. Remembering the instructions that Tsunami had given her, Ayeka concentrated until her tiara glowed with silvery light. The tall statues lining the path reacted by giving off a silvery light of their own. With the path lighted, the large statues at the end of the path became fully visible. It was just as Tsunami had told her to expect. The first statue was of Tsunami, the second was Washu, and the third statue's face had crumbled off. Ayeka began to walk down the path, heading for the statues. "Lord Tenchi, Miss Ryoko..." she whispered, "I will not fail you."

---

Even though she was usually not an early riser, Mihoshi sat on the porch to watch the sunrise. She wasn't really enjoying herself, though. People as sweet natured as Mihoshi did not hate many things, but one thing that she did hate was to see her friends so unhappy. Everyone else was also up early, but the blonde detective had a feeling that this was because most of them had never even gone to sleep. She knew for sure that Kiyone and Washu hadn't. Mihoshi hadn't meant to overhear the late-night conversation between the two, it had just ... sort of happened. She had been tossing and turning on her futon, and suddenly found herself on a hard floor. More specifically, it had been the floor behind some machinery in Washu's lab. Mihoshi didn't know why, but she often found herself suddenly appearing in Washu's lab at the strangest times.

At any rate, she had overheard Kiyone and Washu talking, and had been devastated to learn that Ryo-Oh-Ki was getting worse, and that Ryoko refused to come down from the roof. Mihoshi had managed to quietly sneak out of the lab (Quite a feat for someone like Mihoshi!), and had decided to check on Sasami. She had found the young princess sitting in the hallway, crying for her missing sister. After Mihoshi had comforted Sasami for a while, she had gone to sit on the porch, while Sasami went to feed Mayuka.

The detective decided that she had to try to make things better. After all, it was her duty to help people in need. Job description aside, Mihoshi would do anything she could to aid her friends. But what to do? She didn't know very much about doctor stuff, so she probably couldn't do anything for Ryo-Oh-Ki. That left either going to search for Ayeka, or trying to cheer up Ryoko.

"Let me see..." Mihoshi thought aloud, "even if Ayeka ran away, she has to come back home, because she forgot her toothbrush. When she comes back, I can try to convince her to stay. Until then, I'd better work on helping Ryoko cope with this blindness thing."

Mihoshi frowned with concentration. "But what can I do?" she asked herself, "I'm not smart, like Washu or Kiyone. Still, there's gotta be some way that I can help her."

Mihoshi decided that she would think as hard as she could for as long as she could, in the hopes that she would get some kind of an idea. She screwed her eyes shut and sat very still.

_Think, think, think!_ her inner voice said, _Think. Think. Think. Oh, wait a minute, if all I'm thinking is the word "think", then I'm not thinking of a way to help Ryoko, huh? Hmm. Think, think, think ... oh no, I'm doing it again!_

A sudden loud WHUM-WHUM-WHUM sound startled Mihoshi. "Waaah!" she screamed, falling off the porch. Getting up, Mihoshi saw that the source of the sound was some kind of box bouncing around in the distance. Wait a minute ... a box? "That's it!" said Mihoshi, an idea forming in her head, "I think we still have it in the kitchen..."

---

In the lab, Kiyone held her head and sighed. She and Washu had been up all night, and still weren't any closer to figuring out what to do for Ryo-Oh-Ki. After Washu had broken down and cried, the detective didn't dare bring up the suggestion of locating Tenchi again. Glancing over at Washu, she saw that the little redhead was staring intently at a monitor.

"What is she doing there?" Washu murmured.

Moving to stand beside Washu, Kiyone looked at the monitor to see what the scientist was talking about. She saw the ladder outside the house that led up to the roof. Walking towards the ladder, with some kind of box tucked under one arm, was Mihoshi.

As Mihoshi began to climb the ladder, the view on the monitor followed her. Washu must have set up a surveillance camera, so that she would know if anyone tried to approach Ryoko. That camera was now following Mihoshi. When the blonde made it onto the roof, Kiyone finally saw Ryoko. She was sitting at the edge of the roof, with her back to the camera (and therefore, with her back to Mihoshi as well). As Kiyone had expected, she saw the energy barrier that Washu had created, standing between Mihoshi and the place where Ryoko sat.

"The barrier will stop her," Washu murmured.

Kiyone barely noticed what Washu had said. She was busy squinting at the monitor, trying to figure out what the box was that Mihoshi was carrying. She finally realized that it was a box of crackers.

As Mihoshi drew closer to the energy barrier, it began to flicker. Just at the moment when Mihoshi would have bumped into it, the barrier disappeared entirely. Once Mihoshi had taken a few steps forward, the barrier reappeared behind her.

"Argh!" exclaimed Washu, "How the heck does she do that?"

It took all of Kiyone's willpower to keep from smiling.

---

Ryoko had not slept all night. The unpleasant tingling in her eye sockets, as well as her dark thoughts, had been with her for many hours now. Suddenly, without turning around, she growled "Go away, Mihoshi."

"But Ryoko," Mihoshi's annoyingly cheerful voice sounded through Ryoko's darkness, "you haven't eaten in over 24 hours! I brought you a snack!"

"I don't want any!" Ryoko snapped, the tingling sensation really bothering her now, "Go away!"

"Oh, but I know that these are your favorite crackers!" Mihoshi's cheery voice insisted, "And this is a brand new, unopened box, so they're sure to be fresh!"

Ryoko groaned when she realized that Mihoshi wasn't going to take "no" for an answer. The groan made the dark voices in her head intensify. _Defective. Useless. Waste product._ She shook her head, trying to make them stop. Ryoko was dimly aware of the sound of Mihoshi's fingernails scraping against cardboard, and the sound of crackers rattling inside the box. After the sounds continued for about a minute, she deduced that the ditz couldn't get the box open.

There was a sudden thump as the box landed near Ryoko, and she heard Mihoshi's voice shout "Whoops!"

Ryoko's hand instinctively shot out and grabbed at the spot where she had heard the box land, seizing the box before it slid off the roof. "Oh for crying out loud," Ryoko grumbled, "let me open it!"

She felt along the box top until she felt a crack. Ryoko stuck her thumbnail into it and pried upward, pulling the box flap open. Reaching into the box, she took out the bag and grasped it with both hands. Pulling the bag open, Ryoko's mouth watered when the smell of the crackers reached her nostrils. Somehow, the distraction made the tingling in her eye sockets become more bearable...

Mihoshi's voice sounded again: "Wow, thanks Ryoko! You helped me, just like Kiyone!"

...and then the tingling completely vanished. Granted, it didn't take much to open a silly box of crackers, but the fact that Ryoko had done it without really thinking about her blindness had somehow made the tingling and the dark voices go away. It was ridiculous, but it had worked! Something about Mihoshi made a lot of things in life like that.

"Now," Mihoshi's voice said, "let's eat!"

Ryoko reached into the bag and took out some crackers. She held them out in Mihoshi's general direction. She felt the detective's fingers take the crackers from her. Ryoko then grabbed some more crackers and stuffed them into her own mouth. Geez, she hadn't realized just how hungry she was! Before Ryoko knew it, the bag was empty.

"By the way," Mihoshi's innocent voice said, "how did you know that it was me on the roof?"

Ryoko had to think back for a moment. "I recognized your scent," she replied, "and the sound of your footsteps."

"Wow," said Mihoshi's voice, "it's a good thing that you have such sharp senses, huh?" There was the sound of retreating footsteps as Mihoshi began to leave. "I gotta go now," she said, "Bye!"

"Mihoshi?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"Oh, no problem, Ryoko. I'm glad you enjoyed the crackers!"

Ryoko smiled slightly. "I wasn't talking about the crackers."

"Hmm?" came Mihoshi's innocent-sounding voice.

Ryoko heard the sound of Washu's energy barrier flickering off, then coming on again, doubtlessly just as the universe's luckiest detective was stepping through it. There was the thump of shoes on wood as Mihoshi began to descend the ladder.

"Mihoshi!" Ryoko called out.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to take a nap now. Could you come back in an hour and help me to the onsen?"

"Oh sure, no problem!" came the cheerful reply.

_I won't let this thing beat me,_ Ryoko thought, running a hand along her bandages, _I can overcome this._ Ryoko curled up on the roof and prepared to fall asleep. _I'll protect you, Tenchi. No matter what happens, my love, I'll keep you safe._

---

Having seen the entire exchange, Washu and Kiyone stared at the monitor, completely dumbfounded. The security camera followed Mihoshi back down to the foot of the ladder. From the monitor's speaker, they heard her whispering to herself, "It worked!"

Washu shook her head in disbelief. "God bless that ditz," she murmured.

Kiyone grinned. "Well done, Mihoshi," she said.

---

Meanwhile, Ayeka had finally reached the three large statues at the end of the path. Floating before the statues was a large red gem. At Ayeka's approach, the gigantic, spectral head of an old man appeared, with the red gem centered in his forehead. His piercing blue eyes gazed at Ayeka without blinking.

"So, my lady," his voice echoed (although his mouth did not seem to move), "you have come."

"Yes," Ayeka replied calmly, "I seek your branch from the Tree of Darkness."

The being's eyes narrowed. "Are you prepared for this?" his voice rumbled ominously.

Ayeka's surroundings suddenly felt very cold. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated. She thought of Tsunami's words to her: "If you emerge victorious at the end of the coming trials, you will be more than what you are now, like a new butterfly, free to find your full potential."

Warm silver light enveloped her body. She opened her eyes and smiled for a brief second, before a look of grim determination replaced it. "I am ready, D3." she said softly.

---

In Washu's lab, an exhausted scientist and her assistant slept in floating chairs. Sasami glanced at the pair, then turned back to look at Ryo-Oh-Ki on the little floating bed. She had been sitting with Tenchi's grandfather at Ryo-Oh-Ki's bedside for the past few minutes, praying silently. If only Ryo-Oh-Ki would wake up! Sasami longed to hear her say "Miya, miya, miya" again. (At least, that was what Sasami would hear. She knew that Ryoko would probably hear something more like "M'ya miiyan myiaa".)

"Da?" said Mayuka. The baby was resting on Sasami's lap. "Da?" she said again.

"I know, Noodles," Sasami whispered, "I miss your daddy, too."

Sasami tried her best to be brave, so as not to upset Mayuka. The young princess really felt like curling up into a ball and crying. Everything was awful. She didn't know where Tenchi was. She didn't know where Tenchi's father was. She didn't know where Ayeka was. Ryoko was hurt. Ryo-Oh-Ki was hurt even more seriously than Ryoko. It was too much for Sasami to bear. _Ayeka, where are you?_ she asked silently. _Please come home. Come back._

Looking at Ryo-Oh-Ki, Sasami let out a small gasp when she saw a tear form at the corner of the cabbit's right eye. "Ryo-Oh-Ki?" she whispered. But the cabbit did not stir. Sasami stared at the teardrop and wondered at the meaning of it. The little princess sighed and hugged Mayuka closer to her. If everyone wasn't together and safe, Sasami thought to herself, life had no meaning.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: Some sacrifices go unnoticed. Other sacrifices can change lives forever. Don't miss the third chapter of Confess to You, "Butterfly"!

Author's notes: Please remember that I'm using the OAV reality. This means that the wonderful movie Tenchi Muyo! in Love never took place, so Tenchi never got a last chance to see his mother. This is unfortunate, but I didn't want to give up the mother-daughter relationship between Washu and Ryoko.

I have to apologize to the Mihoshi fans. She didn't do as much as I had originally planned, because this chapter ended up being way longer than I expected. But don't despair: she has more scenes next chapter!

So why is Mayuka's nickname "Noodles"? In Manatsu no Eve, the sixteen-year-old Mayuka asks, "Which do you like better, noodles or me?", so everyone calls her "Noodles" as a joke.

I really regret putting off the writing of this series for so long, because now there must be a million fics that discuss Ryoko's experience in the cave. Sorry, I hope I didn't bore you to death with that part.

Whew! Writing this series is a lot harder than I thought it would be. How is it so far? What am I doing wrong? What am I doing right? Please help me out by sending C&C, suggestions, or questions concerning the story. I'd also like more feedback on my other fic, "With my love always" (shameless plug). Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll see you next chapter!

Thought of the day: In OAV episode #4, Tenchi is wearing jeans when he falls into the water with Mihoshi. In the next scene, the unconscious Tenchi is wearing only a towel! Well, I'm sure that Ryoko was just giving him a thorough check-up to make sure he was okay. Heh.

Text copyright 1998, Literary Eagle  
(But the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)


	3. Butterfly

Hi, everyone! Wow, the response to my fics so far has been overwhelming! What a pleasant surprise! Thank you so much! But ... I can't do it without you, so please keep the comments and criticism coming!

[AleeN: Hey, Lita, will you shut up and get to the fic, already!]

Er ... sorry about that. Anyway, moving right along...

By the way, if you want to post this story on your site, please ask me first.

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are the property of Pioneer and AIC. This story, however, is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun. Besides, I don't have any money! Oh, I suppose I could go and look for a decent job, but then I'd have less time to watch anime, and I don't want that!

Special thanks go to my prereaders: AleeN, author of "Tenchi Muyo!: in Return to Jurai", and the writing duo of Max Gilliland and Rhys Doyle, authors of "Best Friends". Also, say hello to my newest prereader: Lost Magi, man of original ideas! Heh.

Last chapter: One year after the events of Manatsu no Eve, Tsunami sent Ayeka on a mysterious quest. Meanwhile, Ryoko was given her own trial to deal with. What is Tsunami preparing for?

Confess to You: Chapter Three - Butterfly  
By Literary Eagle

["Princess Ayeka, you are like the caterpillar that approaches a time of transformation, a time that is both wonderful and frightening."]

The memory of these words, Tsunami's words, echoed in Ayeka's mind as she stood facing D3. "I am ready," Ayeka said. D3's blue eyes began to glow. Sapphire light reflected off the nearby statues.

["You have been given a power that can be your chrysalis."]

Ayeka felt her new power building, its silvery aura swelling around her. The hall and its statues became white with the princess' gentle radiance. D3's blue glow dimmed at Ayeka's challenge.

["If you emerge victorious at the end of the coming trials, you will be more than what you are now, like a new butterfly, free to find your full potential."]

Indeed, Ayeka almost felt as if wings were forming behind her. "Courage, courage, courage," her soul sang, and Ayeka nodded serenely. She began to rise into the air, her hands stretching out towards the large gem centered in D3's forehead.

"Your branch from the Tree of Darkness..." she whispered.

"Not like this..." D3 replied softly.

Blood red fire sprang from the gem, enveloping the princess in a painful and terrifying embrace. Ayeka opened her mouth to scream, and the fire danced down her throat. Her voice was taken away, but someone else cried out. D3?

Ayeka fell into darkness, her power crushed like an insect submitting itself to an uncaring world.

---

"Where am I?" Ryoko asked herself, looking at her strange surroundings. Wait a minute ... LOOKING?

"I'm not blind!" Ryoko exclaimed, her hands flying up to her eyes. Ryoko then remembered that she was supposed to be taking a nap on the roof of the Masaki home. "I'm dreaming," she murmured, disappointed. As soon as Mihoshi woke her up, she would be in darkness again.

Ryoko decided that she had better enjoy the sights before the dream was over. She seemed to be indoors. Marble columns that appeared to be glowing supplied the illumination in Ryoko's surroundings. A tall water fountain in the center of the area looked like a series of gigantic clamshells, with highly detailed statues of winged crabs spewing water from their mouths.

These elegant features contrasted with simple wooden furniture (mostly bookcases and desks) and large gray machinery. Potted plants were everywhere: on the furniture, on the floor, and hanging from the ceiling. As for the ceiling ... as for the ceiling! A large and magnificent skylight showing a view of the stars took up most of this ceiling. Ryoko had seen plenty of stars in her lifetime, but this view was exceptionally dazzling. She almost felt like singing her song about stars and happy dreams, except that she hated singing when there was competing music present ... for there was soft music playing in the room.

After a few moments of staring at the stars, Ryoko realized that they were twinkling in perfect time to the music. After a few more moments of staring, the view of the stars melted away, replaced by a view of fish and other aquatic creatures swimming in blue water. Sure enough, the creatures were swimming in perfect time to the music. Ryoko watched for several minutes, to see if anything else would happen. The view eventually changed again, this time to a blue sky, where birds flew in and out of white clouds, always in time to the music.

Ryoko frowned in thought. Although she was fairly certain that she had never visited a place like this in the real world, it somehow seemed familiar. Spotting some papers on a nearby desk, she decided to take a closer look. One of them appeared to be a clipping from a newspaper of some sort. At the top of this clipping was a picture of a laughing, curly-haired baby. Ryoko began to read the words below the picture: "Washu Hakubi and Nobuo Mizutani are proud to announce the birth of their first child..."

A familiar voice interrupted Ryoko's reading. "Well now, this is interesting," the voice said.

Ryoko whirled around to see Washu standing near some bookcases. "What's interesting?" Ryoko asked the dream Washu.

"We seem to be sharing the same dream," Washu replied.

"You mean, I'm not just dreaming about you?" Ryoko asked, "It's really you?"

Washu nodded. "That's right, I fell asleep too. You're not the only one who's exhausted. Kiyone and I were up all night, running tests on Ryo-Oh-Ki."

"Mom," Ryoko said, "do you know what this place is?"

A sad sort of smile formed on Washu's face. "Don't you remember?" she said softly, "This is the place where you were born."

Ryoko's mouth dropped open. "I was born here?"

"Yup. Right over there," Washu replied, pointing at one of the large machines, "For some reason, we seem to be sharing my memory of this place through our mental link."

Washu walked over to the machine and sat down on a flat part of it. She then motioned to Ryoko to sit with her. Ryoko teleported to her mother's side and sat down. After a moment's hesitation, Ryoko rested her hand over one of Washu's. She gave her mother's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Mom?" said Ryoko, "Does this place still exist?"

Washu shook her head. "No," she replied, staring at the floor, "Kagato took this place apart to find any secrets I might have hidden here."

"I'm sorry," Ryoko whispered.

Washu looked up at her and smiled. "It's okay," said Washu, "I still have my memory of this place. And now, you do too."

The little redhead slowly slid her hand out from under Ryoko's, and pointed at the skylight, which still had the view of birds flying. "Watch," said Washu, a mysterious smile forming on her face. She appeared to concentrate for a moment, and then gave a small, satisfied laugh.

Ryoko glanced at the skylight, and saw that the birds were now flying backwards, still in time to the music. Ryoko smiled.

"This sure is a nicer place to remember than that damn cave," Ryoko said seriously, "That's the worst part about being blind, Mom. It makes me feel like I'm in the cave again."

Washu looked directly into Ryoko's eyes. "Ryoko?" she asked gently, "When Tenchi said that he loved you, where were you?"

A bit baffled, Ryoko responded: "Outside."

"And what time was it?" Washu asked.

"Sometime at night. Why?"

Washu gave a small smile. "Ryoko ... when you wake up, and all you can see is darkness, I don't want you to think about the cave. Think about the night when Tenchi said that he loved you."

"Mom?"

"You're not in the cave anymore, Ryoko," Washu whispered, "You have Tenchi, and me, and everyone else."

Ryoko nodded in understanding. "I guess I have been putting myself back in the cave, haven't I? Isolating myself on the roof like that..."

"Ryoko," said Washu, "I'm sorry for letting you do that to yourself."

Ryoko put her hand on Washu's shoulder. "It's okay, Mom," she said softly, "You're still learning to leave your 'cave', aren't you?"

Washu smiled. "I suppose I do spend too much time in my lab, don't I?"

"Well, you're better than you used to be," Ryoko replied, "You do come out to help me with Mayuka."

Washu nodded. "We owe that kid a lot, don't we?"

"Yeah," said Ryoko, "The most powerful space pirate and the greatest scientific genius in the universe, and we needed a little baby to bring us together!"

Both laughed.

"You really love Mayuka, don't you?" Washu asked.

"We all do," Ryoko responded, shrugging.

Ryoko could feel Washu's eyes on her, and knew that her mother was expecting her to say more. Ryoko sighed. She was learning how to open up to Washu, and to others, but it still wasn't the easiest thing for her to do. "At first," Ryoko finally said, "the reason why I wanted to take care of Mayuka was because it let me pretend that I was Tenchi's wife. That, and I also felt kinda bad about the way I treated her when she first came to our house."

Ryoko stared up at the "skylight" and sighed.

"But then, I started to think about how much Mayuka was like me," Ryoko continued, "I mean, she had been under Yuzuha's control, and I was Kagato's slave for thousands of years. And I thought of how Mayuka might grow up without a mother, and I..."

Ryoko stopped abruptly and looked at Washu. "Sorry," she said weakly.

Washu shook her head. "No, you're right," she said, "Ryoko, I know that with you taking care of Mayuka, she'll be able to have the happy childhood that you never did."

Ryoko smiled. "With you and Tenchi helping me, I think she will."

Washu tried to put her small arms around Ryoko. Frowning slightly, she changed into her adult form and embraced her daughter. "I'll help you in any way that I can," she whispered, "Maybe Kiyone and I can design a device to keep you from bumping into things, or..."

"I know that I'll manage somehow. I'm a resourceful gal." Ryoko said, grinning, "After all, I am my mother's daughter."

Washu laughed. "Your mother's daughter, all right!"

The view in the "skylight" was of the starry sky again. Washu pointed at it and narrowed her eyes, until aurora borealis filled the view, the colors slowly weaving and undulating in time to the music.

"Hey, why isn't your current lab this cool?" asked Ryoko.

Washu raised an eyebrow. "Why? Are you gonna help me to redecorate?" she asked.

"Can't help you there," Ryoko said, smiling and pointing at her eyes, "After all, I don't have these in the real world anymore, remember?"

"Ha!" said Washu, "You kids and your excuses: 'My cabbit ate my homework', 'My Mommy can't make me a decent pair of eyes'!"

Ryoko stared at her mother with a what-the-hell-did-you-just-say look, and then suddenly both of them cracked up, laughing until tears finally came out of their eyes.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," said Washu, once she had recovered from laughing so hard, "I noticed before falling asleep that Ryo-Oh-Ki's condition had finally stopped declining. There's even some indication that her life signs will start improving soon."

Ryoko sighed with relief. "Mom?" she said, "When Mihoshi wakes me up from my nap, can you help me to send a message to Tenchi?"

"Of course I will," said Washu, smiling.

Suddenly, Mihoshi's voice, as if from far away, could be heard saying "Ryoko? Ryoko?"

Ryoko only had time to exclaim "Already?" before vanishing, leaving Washu alone.

Rather than just sitting around waiting for Ryoko to wake her up, Washu stood and began to walk around her old lab. Suddenly reverting back to her child form, she shouted "YES!" and began to do cartwheels. She stopped and triumphantly raised her right arm, middle finger extended. "Whaddaya think of this, Kagato? Ha!"

---

Ryoko could feel someone gently shaking her. It was dark. Ryoko sleepily tried to rub her eyes, but stopped when her fingers ran across a bandage instead of eyelids. How had she forgotten already?

"Ryoko? Ryoko?" That was Mihoshi's voice.

"Geez," said Ryoko, "Has it been an hour already?"

"Yup," Mihoshi's cheerful voice replied, "It's bath time!"

"Okay," said Ryoko, yawning, "but can we go to the lab first?"

"Visit Ryo-Oh-Ki? Sure!" said Mihoshi.

Ryoko teleported the both of them off the roof.

---

Washu was still in her dream about her old lab. She wandered over to a desk and saw the newspaper clipping announcing the birth of her son. The picture of the baby was in black-and-white. Washu mentally filled in the colors: creamy complexion, blond curls, and bright green eyes. Saddened, Washu thought about her husband and son, and wondered what had happened to them. They were her family 20,000 years ago. They were long gone by now.

But she didn't have to hide from the pain in her "cave" anymore, did she? She had a daughter and friends now, a new family. Washu began to chuckle. "Maybe I should tell Tenchi that I'm looking forward to having a lot of grandchildren," she murmured, smiling.

The soft music playing in the lab suddenly fell silent. "What the..." Washu said to herself.

A breeze blew through the lab, scattering papers. Washu's eyes widened when she saw the breeze snatch away her son's birth announcement. The newspaper clipping flew directly into the flame of a Bunsen burner on another table. Fire surrounded the clipping, making the paper glow for a brief moment, before it was turned to ashes.

The breeze began to whisper something in Washu's ear.

"Sister..." it said.

"Who the hell is doing this?" Washu demanded.

The breeze's whisper suddenly turned to a roar. "SISTER!"

The skylight shattered. Washu let out a startled cry, ducking under a table to avoid the falling shards of glass. Without warning, the table suddenly vanished. Fortunately for Washu, the shards of glass had vanished as well. In fact, the entire lab had vanished. Washu was standing in complete darkness.

The breeze returned, carrying the sound of someone crying. Washu strained her ears, wondering why the voice sounded so familiar. It sounded very much like ... "Ayeka?" Washu called into the darkness. "Ayeka, is that you?"

A soft light appeared, slowly revealing that Washu was standing on a path lined by tall statues. At the end of this path, Washu could see three large, dark silhouettes. More statues? As the light spread, one of the statues was revealed to be Tsunami, the second was Washu herself, and the third one was ...? Washu could not identify the third woman, but she did look familiar.

The Ayeka-like voice suddenly screamed, and the face on the third statue crumbled off...

---

"Washu?"

Washu awoke to find Mihoshi shaking her floating chair. Ryoko was standing behind the detective. A short distance away, Kiyone was sleeping in a floating chair much like Washu's.

"Good morning, Washu!" said Mihoshi, smiling brightly, "Ryoko said that she wanted to do something with you ... what's wrong? You're shaking. Did I scare you? Oh no, I didn't mean to scare you. Oh, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have startled you like that! Waah! I'm so sorry!"

"I'm okay!" said Washu, a bit too loudly, "I just had a strange dream, that's all."

"Strange dream?" said Ryoko, frowning, "You mean the..."

"It's not important," Washu said quickly, "Anyway, I have just the thing you need, Ryoko."

The little scientist hopped off her floating chair, and walked towards a table. On the table was something about the size of a television set, covered with a cloth. Washu removed the cloth, revealing to Mihoshi that it in fact WAS a television ... or something like it.

Ryoko of course could not see anything, but she had heard the sound of a cloth flapping in the air. "What is it? What did you uncover?" she asked.

Mihoshi, full of her usual eagerness to help, began to describe the device to Ryoko. "It looks like a TV, Ryoko! But it has a propeller thing on the top, and a video camera thing on the side! Oh, and there's this cute little picture of a crab on it!"

"Thanks Mihoshi," said Washu, nodding at the detective, "We can use this device to record a message. I can then program it to fly off and find Tenchi, using my special 'DNA Sniffer'. Once it finds him, it'll play back the message."

Ryoko moved in the direction of Washu's voice and was able to give her mother a hug. "You're a genius, Mom!" she said.

"I know," Washu chuckled, "I always knew that there was a good reason for me to get DNA samples from Tenchi!"

"Don't push your luck, Mom."

---

Sasami opened her eyes and noticed that she wasn't lying on her futon. She was, in fact, sitting up. Looking around and seeing that she was in the lab, she remembered that she had been praying at Ryo-Oh-Ki's bedside. Tears threatened to fill the young princess' eyes when the events of the past day came back to her. Glancing at a nearby clock, Sasami saw that she must have been asleep for a bit more than an hour. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to calm herself, trying to be strong.

"Da?" said Mayuka. The baby, who had been on Sasami's lap before she had fallen asleep, was now in Katsuhito's arms. Tenchi's grandfather looked at Sasami with some concern.

"I didn't sleep well last night," Sasami explained.

Katsuhito nodded in sympathy.

A sound made both of them turn around. They saw Kiyone walking towards them, carrying something that resembled a television set with a propeller on top. Washu was following her, and bringing up the rear was Mihoshi, who was guiding Ryoko by the hand. Ryoko floated a bit above the floor, so as not to trip over any wires.

"Ryoko!" Sasami called to her, "Ryoko, how are you ... um, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, Sasami," said Ryoko, smiling reassuringly.

Washu took a look at the devices monitoring Ryo-Oh-Ki's condition. She smiled, which Sasami took as a good sign.

Kiyone looked at the readouts over Washu's shoulder, and let out a sigh of relief. "Her condition is improving," Kiyone said.

Ryoko smiled and patted her cabbit on the head.

"It looks like you were right," Washu told Kiyone.

Sasami was about to ask Washu what she was talking about, but her stomach suddenly let out a loud growl.

Washu laughed softly. Taking Mayuka out of Katsuhito's arms, she said, "I think I'll feed Mayuka and whip up a little breakfast for everyone. Sasami, would you like to stay here with Ryo-Oh-Ki?"

Sasami nodded gratefully.

"Well, I'm going to launch this thing," said Kiyone, referring to the TV thing that she was carrying.

"Ryoko and I are on our way out, too!" said Mihoshi, "We're going to take a bath before breakfast. Ryoko, are you sure that you don't just want to teleport to the onsen?"

Earlier, Ryoko would have been surprised that Mihoshi had thought of that, but she had recently learned not to underestimate the blonde detective. "I have to get used to moving around like this," said Ryoko, "I shouldn't just teleport everywhere."

"And what about you, Lord Katsuhito?" asked Washu.

"I have something to do at the shrine," he replied.

"Okay, we'll all meet in a short while for breakfast, then!" Washu said cheerfully.

"I hope Ayeka's okay," Sasami murmured.

Katsuhito gave Washu a knowing look, before suddenly leaving the lab.

Washu frowned slightly. "Umm ... I'm sure she'll come back soon," said Washu, in an effort to reassure Sasami, "Don't worry, she can take care of herself. She's probably a lot safer than that crazy runaway portable washing machine of mine."

A large sweatdrop appeared on Sasami's head. "Did ... did you just say 'runaway portable washing machine'?"

---

Once outside, Kiyone set Washu's invention down on the ground. After pressing several buttons, the propeller began to spin, and the device flew off into the sky.

"Wow, there it goes!" Mihoshi told Ryoko, "It's so fast! I'm sure it'll find Tenchi in no time!"

Kiyone smiled with relief. A message was finally being sent out to Tenchi and Nobuyuki, and it was mostly because of Mihoshi!

As Kiyone went back into the house to help Washu make breakfast, Mihoshi began to lead Ryoko towards the onsen.

"Mihoshi?" said Ryoko.

"Hmm?"

"Mihoshi, I ... I never thanked you for freeing Mom from Kagato."

"Oh, that's okay, Ryoko," Mihoshi replied.

"No, it's not 'okay'," Ryoko insisted, "You freed Mom, and then you told me that she wasn't the one I should point my sword at. And now, you helped me to realize that I don't have to let this blindness thing beat me. I've been misjudging you for years, and I'm sorry."

Mihoshi squeezed Ryoko's hand, and Ryoko smiled.

---

Mihoshi remembered that she had considered it her calling to help people ever since she was ten years old. Before then, she had been a bumbling but optimistic child, always happy but without any real direction. The event that had changed that had happened on her tenth birthday, of all days. That was when a Galaxy Police officer had stopped an attempted robbery at her mother's antique shop.

That was when Mihoshi knew that what she wanted to do most was help people, just like that heroic policewoman, Detective "something" Mizutani. Mihoshi hadn't caught the officer's full name, but she never forgot the young woman's curly blond hair, so much like her own, and her piercing green eyes.

Once she had found a purpose, Mihoshi became an outstanding student. Later on, she became one of the top students at the Galaxy Police Academy, much to the delight of her grandfather, the grand marshal. Upon graduation, her grandfather gave her a wonderful surprise: she was to have Detective Mizutani for a partner! It turned out that, although Mizutani was one of the best GP officers, she had turned down promotion after promotion, because she was happy to help people directly, rather than work behind a desk as some sort of director or supervisor.

To say that Mihoshi had been thrilled at having Detective Mizutani for a partner would have been a gross understatement. As a child, Mihoshi had often repeated the name "Mizutani" to herself, as if her heroine's name was some kind of magic word. Even when Mihoshi learned that her partner's given name was Yuri, she continued to call her Mizutani out of habit.

Mihoshi and Mizutani had been two of the best GP detectives, but Mihoshi, like Mizutani, turned down all promotions. For one thing, Mihoshi had not wanted to leave Mizutani, and secondly, she had also wanted to help people directly, not sit behind a desk all day.

Mihoshi and Mizutani had been more than excellent partners, they had become best friends. It had therefore come as no surprise when Mizutani had suggested that they spend their vacation time together on her home planet, Amano, where Mizutani had a lovely little summer home. They had traveled to the Amano system in their ship, MihoMizu, and had eagerly been discussing which karaoke CD they would play once they had landed and unpacked...

Mihoshi had awakened in the GP hospital the next day. Her mother, by her bedside, had gently answered Mihoshi's questions. Amano's sun, D3, had somehow exploded, destroying the planet and also the MihoMizu. The GP had found Mihoshi unconscious in MihoMizu's escape pod. Mizutani was missing, presumed dead.

Mihoshi was never the same after that. She never did remember entering that escape pod. In fact, she had difficulty remembering a lot of things after that incident, although there were times when her memory worked just fine. It was very strange. She began to have difficulty staying focused on things. Even during occasions when her thinking was clearer, she was unable to express those thoughts very well, childish prattle often escaping her lips instead. It was as if she was back to being the bumbling child she once was, waiting for Mizutani to come into her life and give her a purpose.

She became the subject of much derision at the GP. People began to spread rumors that she was only able to keep her job because of her grandfather's influence. The truth was that Mihoshi was still solving many difficult cases, although this was now because of luck more often than skill. For instance, there was the time when she had gotten lost from reading a map upside down, and had accidentally stumbled onto a notorious criminal's hideout. Mihoshi secretly believed that the cause of her crazy luck was that Mizutani had become her guardian angel and was helping her.

However, her grandfather still fretted about her safety, and decided to partner her with another of the GP's best detectives: Kiyone Makibi. Kiyone was like Mizutani in many ways, although her career aspirations were different. And so, Mihoshi led her new partner through many crazy ups and downs, and somehow always managed to get their man(woman/creature/robot/whatever). Although Kiyone sometimes grumbled about being given a babysitting job instead of a promotion, she and Mihoshi were undeniably a good team. They were good friends, as well. Kiyone even shared Mihoshi's love for karaoke! But it seemed that Mihoshi's newest friendship was not meant to be, either.

Kiyone had to sacrifice herself to save the day during the case of the ultra-energy matter robbery. Mihoshi refused to have another partner after that, feeling that she had already failed to protect two of them. As it was, she never could rid herself of the guilt from being the only survivor of the planet Amano's destruction.

Mihoshi still had her childlike optimism, though. It allowed her to carry on with her life mission of helping people. Yes, there were plenty of times when she was genuinely happy ... but there were also times when her smile would falter just a little, or her hand might shake as she turned the pages of her favorite shojo manga.

Still, Mihoshi was now among friends at her new home on Earth, and now that Kiyone had returned and joined the household, she knew that she was right in her belief that things turned out okay more often than not. She just knew that she could help Ryoko! She had to try, anyway. For what purpose had she survived the destruction of Amano, if not to help people? _I won't fail you, Mizutani. That's a promise!_

---

"Uh, Mihoshi, did you hear what I said?"

"Huh?" said Mihoshi, startled, "Oh! Sorry, Ryoko, but could you repeat it?"

"I asked if you would help me to train after breakfast," Ryoko explained patiently.

"Train?" said Mihoshi, blinking, "For what?"

"I have to learn how to do things without sight," Ryoko replied, "I want to learn as much as possible before Tenchi gets back, so he won't be too worried about me."

"Oh, well of course I'll help you!"

"Mihoshi ... are you okay? I can feel your hand trembling."

Mihoshi fought the sudden urge to tell Ryoko all about Mizutani, and simply said "I'm fine, Ryoko. But thanks for asking. Now, how about that bath?"

She led Ryoko through the entrance to the onsen. _Ryoko needs you right now,_ Mihoshi thought to herself, _Don't burden her with your problems. Just be cheerful. Be cheerful, and everything will be okay._

Mihoshi squeezed back tears and forced herself to smile, even though Ryoko could not see it.

---

It was noon. The Masaki family van made its way down a winding road, heading home.

"Are you sure about this, Dad?" Tenchi asked for the twelfth time, "I mean, we were away for only a day. Are you sure that you don't mind going back home already?"

Nobuyuki nodded for the twelfth time. "It's okay, Tenchi," he said, smiling, "I shouldn't have insisted on taking you away from Ryoko so soon. By taking you home, I'm performing a ... fatherly duty."

"But we didn't even do any fishing," Tenchi insisted. He was anxious to go back to Ryoko and apologize to Ayeka, but he also knew how much his father had been looking forward to their fishing trip.

"Maybe not, but we still spent some time together," Nobuyuki replied, "and that's all I really wanted. Now, I want you to remember those waltzing lessons I gave you, and sweep Ryoko off her feet!"

"With Ryoko's powers, it's more likely that she'll sweep me off my feet!" Tenchi laughed.

"Well, I expect to see the two of you waltzing away by late afternoon," Nobuyuki said with a grin, "I'm taking the shortcut, so we'll be home in a few hours."

Tenchi was about to make a joke about past "shortcuts" that his father had made, when a sudden whirring noise caught his attention. "What's that sound?" he asked.

Tenchi's question was answered when a flying box with a propeller dropped out of the sky and began to hover in the middle of the road. Nobuyuki stopped the van and stared in confusion.

Noticing a picture of a crab on the contraption, Tenchi exclaimed, "That must be one of Washu's inventions!"

"Let's go take a look," Nobuyuki replied, turning off the ignition and stepping out of the van. Tenchi followed him. Once father and son were standing in front of the box, the propeller stopped spinning. At the same time, some sort of metal stand unfolded itself from underneath, so that the box did not fall onto the ground. An image of Washu appeared on the box's screen. From the background, Tenchi could tell that she was in her lab. He could also see Kiyone sleeping in a floating chair in the background. Below the image of Washu were the words "Playing back message".

"Tenchi," the image of Washu said, "I want you to brace yourself ... there's been an accident."

"Let me talk to him, Mom," said Ryoko's voice.

Washu held her arm out and led Ryoko into view. Tenchi and Nobuyuki both gasped when they saw that Ryoko's eyes were bandaged. For the next few minutes, Ryoko and Washu took turns explaining what had happened.

Despite the noon sun, Tenchi felt very cold. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! Ryoko was blinded, Ryo-Oh-Ki was in a coma, and Ayeka had run away. A lump began to form in his throat.

"I don't want you to worry about me, Tenchi," the image of Ryoko said, "Mihoshi is helping me to adjust, so I'll be fine."

A sudden explosion could be heard. In the background, Kiyone fell out of her chair. "What did you do?" Kiyone yelled to someone off-screen.

"Waah! I'm so sorry!" Mihoshi's voice wailed.

Large sweatdrops formed over Washu and Ryoko's heads.

"Uh ... anyway," Ryoko continued, "Just come home whenever you're ready, Tenchi. I love you."

"I love you too," Tenchi whispered, not knowing what else to do.

The screen darkened, and Washu's device suddenly folded itself into a small suitcase. Tenchi, still in shock, simply stared at it. Nobuyuki grabbed the "suitcase" with one arm, and used his other arm to begin hustling Tenchi towards the van.

"Come on! Let's get back home!" Nobuyuki exclaimed.

Finally pulling himself together, Tenchi broke into a run and scrambled into his seat. As the van began to move again, a dead butterfly dropped out of the sky and hit the windshield. Tenchi gazed at the insect. It's wings were lavender, like his mother's favorite kimono. Fluid trickled from the dead creature's eyes.

---

Ayeka was standing in complete darkness, unable to move. She had lost track of time. In fact, she had lost track of nearly everything. Any thought that came into her mind was drowned out by the roar of an invisible tidal wave. Her thoughts were drowning. She was drowning.

A cold feeling made its way through her mind, as if a snake were slipping into her brain. A voice in the back of Ayeka's mind screamed "No!" and the princess suddenly found her mental defenses again.

"STAY OUT OF MY MIND!" Ayeka shouted. Although she was still paralyzed from the neck down, Ayeka was able to summon enough power to create a mental armor of sorts.

"No matter," a cold, genderless voice said, "I already know everything that I need to. Poor, pitiful little princess ... your dear Lord Tenchi does not love you!"

Hearing someone speak brought back the memories of the past two days. They filled Ayeka's mind in a rush: Tenchi. Tenchi declaring his love for Ryoko. Ryoko. Ryoko blinded, and Ryo-Oh-Ki seriously injured. Tsunami. Tsunami saying that she, Ayeka, was the one who had the power to help Ryoko. To help everyone. She had to reach Tokimi. Tokimi...

"Lord Tenchi does not love you," the voice said.

"I know," Ayeka replied as calmly as she could.

"What did you see in that boy, anyway?" the voice asked, "Tsunami's children certainly have strange taste. Lord Tenchi, in love with a space pirate! Princess Ayeka, in love with someone foolish enough to declare his love for a space pirate!"

"Do not speak ill of Lord Tenchi!" Ayeka snapped, "He welcomed me into his life! He was kind to me, he was honest with me, he completed me!"

The voice laughed. "He was honest? Like when he hid his feelings for that devil-girl for so long?"

Ayeka bit her lip and said nothing.

"Oh, and Lord Tenchi completed you, did he?" the voice continued, "Tell me, little princess, why were you incomplete before you met him?"

Ayeka remained silent.

"Why, what's the matter?" the voice said mockingly, "Cabbit got your tongue? Or perhaps you simply need someone to refresh your memory? Well, let me help you, little princess. You spent your life in a bubble, always being told how to act. The royal life didn't let you have any real friends, did it? You even had your future husband chosen for you: your own brother! And when he disappeared, your father was pressured to marry you to one of the many power-hungry noblemen who sought the throne."

"What is your point?" Ayeka snarled.

"My point, dear princess, is quite simple. Lord Tenchi never tried to control your life, and he liked you because he saw you as a true friend, not because of your title. Lord Tenchi treated you like a real person, and he also showed you the joys of simple life outside palace walls. Now tell me, dear sweet princess Ayeka: why did you want him to marry you and live on Jurai? WHY DID YOU WANT TO CONDEMN HIM TO THE VERY WAY OF LIFE THAT HE FREED YOU FROM?"

"No..." said Ayeka, her voice a hoarse whisper, "No. You have it all wrong."

"Do I?" the voice asked, "Do I really?"

"I-I don't know!" Ayeka sobbed, "I was lonely ... so lonely..."

"Do you understand now?" The voice that asked this question was not the same voice as before. It was not so cold, and it was definitely a female's. Ayeka blinked. The voice sounded like her own. Ayeka began to calm down. She remained silent for several moments. Thoughts that had been on her mind for the past year presented themselves to her once again. Although she had frequently attempted to push those thoughts out of her mind before, telling herself that things were not as bad as those thoughts said, this time she confronted them. Ayeka's current situation didn't seem to offer much choice ... and yet, she somehow felt that she could simply choose to walk away at any time. But that didn't make any sense. After all, was she not frozen in place?

"I understand why Yosho left Jurai," Ayeka finally said, "In fact, I have understood for quite some time now. I know that I do not want to return to that life either, and I realize that I was wrong to try and force Lord Tenchi into it. I was afraid. I was afraid to leave Jurai forever. Although I did not want to return to Jurai's royal life, I still loved the planet. I thought that it would be better if I could return with Lord Tenchi, someone I loved. That was why I never renounced the royal life, until now. There, I have said it. I want to return to Jurai someday, but not as First Princess. Not as a tool for the Juraian nobles."

Ayeka began to feel lighter. Why was that? Her mind felt clearer, that was it. A large burden had been removed, a wall had been torn down, fears that she had run from had been confronted ... and now her simple confession had eliminated the paralyzing force that had held her in place. A paralyzing force, Ayeka realized, that she had been creating for herself.

"You wish to be free," the Ayeka-like voice gently said to her.

"I wish to be me," Ayeka stated.

"Whoever that is," the voice murmured thoughtfully.

"Whoever that is," Ayeka laughed in agreement.

"But tell me," the voice asked, "What about your desire to help the Juraian people? By refusing the throne, do you not turn your back on them?"

"There are other ways to serve the Juraian Empire," said Ayeka.

"You are referring to what Tsunami has asked of you?" said the voice.

"Yes," said Ayeka, "though I am not doing it only for the Empire."

"For Lord Tenchi as well, then? Even though he does not love you?"

"He loves me as a friend," Ayeka said, wiping her eyes, "that is enough. He is family, and I am not referring to bloodlines. Miss Ryoko and everyone else are also family. I do this for all of them. And in helping my family, I also help Tsunami's, don't I?"

"Go, then," said the voice, "Go, now."

---

Suddenly, Ayeka found herself floating in front of the gem in D3's forehead once more. Ayeka's right hand, glowing with silver light, slowly reached out and touched the gem. The gem shattered, revealing a gray tree branch. The branch was slightly longer and thicker than a flashlight, with several twigs on one end, but no leaves.

"Because the power that took something away from Miss Ryoko can also give it back, and much more," Ayeka murmured, grasping the branch in her hand.

"Because you have cleansed it. Because you have passed this test," said D3, his voice sounding quite weak.

"Because it will set you free," Ayeka whispered.

D3 exploded in a blast of light.

---

Ayeka opened her eyes to find herself once more kneeling in the water by the tree Funaho. She saw that it was now daytime. Judging from the sun's position, it was afternoon. The branch from the Tree of Darkness that Ayeka had obtained was clutched in her right hand. Her combat outfit had been replaced by her regular clothing, but the ends of two of Funaho's roots were still embedded in her wrists.

Tsunami was nowhere in sight, which was a bad sign. It meant that things were much worse than they had anticipated. Remembering Tsunami's instructions, Ayeka summoned her miniature logs. Two of the logs floated just above her hands. Concentrating until her tiara glowed silver, Ayeka grabbed these two logs, changing their wood from brown to silvery gray. The other logs vanished. Thin lasers sprang out of the silver logs, cutting the tree roots several centimeters from her wrists. Freed from the tree, Ayeka stood and walked onto dry land. She glanced at the wood left jutting out of her wrists, but did not attempt to remove it.

Lying down on the ground, still holding onto the precious tree branch, Ayeka waited. The warm summer sun was already drying her clothes, but she still felt cold. It was just as Tsunami told her to expect: first the drop in body temperature, then difficulty moving, then the drowsiness, and then...

But Ayeka was not afraid. She only hoped that all this was not draining Tsunami's power too much, because the goddess had to be able to instruct the others on how to use the tree branch, as soon as possible. Where WAS Tsunami? Ayeka had hoped that Tsunami would have been able to arrive before anyone else did. The princess closed her eyes and prayed that, if someone found her before Tsunami, that it would not be Sasami.

---

Ryo-Oh-Ki had been floating in the bright white place for a long time. It was not an unpleasant place, but the little cabbit was a bit baffled. Where was Ryoko? Where was Sasami? Where were the carrots?

The cabbit had been trying to contact Ryoko through their mental link, but had been receiving no response. This had Ryo-Oh-Ki somewhat worried. She hoped that Ryoko was okay. The cabbit still had nightmares where Kagato came back and hurt Ryoko again. Having the memories of the previous Ryo-Oh-Ki, she knew what horrible things Kagato used to do to Ryoko, like using mind control when she refused to obey him, and beating her whenever she failed a mission. Whenever Ryoko had tried to fight back or run away, Kagato had used the Soja to neutralize her powers and then beat her some more.

Ryo-Oh-Ki bristled as she thought of the time when Kagato threw Ryoko through a glass table and had left her bleeding so badly... He had even left a camera in the room, murmuring something about studying how her self-healing ability would handle this. Ryo-Oh-Ki remembered how Ryoko had actually tried to stop her body from healing, she had wanted so much to die and escape Kagato forever. The cuts had healed anyway, and that was when Kagato came in and told Ryoko to attack Jurai...

Kagato was the one thing in the universe that Ryo-Oh-Ki felt nothing but pure hatred for. When he arrived on Earth to steal Tenchiken, she had bit his hand as hard as she could, but he had flung her aside. That was when he took Ryoko away again.

"Ryo-Oh-Ki?" said a familiar voice, interrupting the cabbit's thoughts.

The cabbit suddenly saw Ayeka floating in front of her.

"Put your mind and heart at peace, Ryo-Oh-Ki," said Ayeka, "Go home. Miss Ryoko has passed her first trial, and is ready for you now. Everyone is waiting for you."

A portal opened nearby. Looking through it, the cabbit was astonished to see that she was looking down at her own body, with Sasami sleeping at her bedside.

Ayeka patted Ryo-Oh-Ki on the head. "Go to her, Ryo-Oh-Ki," she said, "Look after Sasami. Be ... be a good sister for her."

The cabbit prepared to leap through the portal, then turned around and noticed that Ayeka was moving in the opposite direction, towards this strange golden light. "Mi-ya-a? Miya yaa mia?" (Ayeka? Aren't you coming?)

Ayeka glanced back at her, and smiled. "Just go," she said softly, "Go home."

Ryo-Oh-Ki let out a baffled "Miya?" before turning and leaping through the portal. She felt herself floating down towards her body...

---

In Sasami's dream, it was dark. There was nothing to see, except for two women. They were Tsunami and Washu. Tsunami somehow seemed a bit younger. Washu was in her adult form, and wearing a dress that Sasami had never seen her wear before.

Tsunami was crying, "Why? Why must you leave, sister?"

"You know why," Washu said, "Our sister has been corrupted! This realm has been corrupted! I suggest that you leave as well, while you still can."

"But ... my tree!" Tsunami sobbed.

"It is not your tree anymore," Washu said softly, placing a hand on Tsunami's shoulder, "Leave while you still can, little sister. Start anew. Find another tree. You have lost this one."

Washu began to walk away.

"Sister! Do not leave me!" Tsunami fell to her knees, crying even harder than before.

"I am sorry," Washu said softly, before she disappeared.

---

Sasami woke up with a start. "Did I fall asleep again?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She glanced at Ryo-Oh-Ki's bed, and suddenly realized that the cabbit was no longer there.

The young princess nearly jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Ryo-Oh-Ki standing there in her humanoid form.

"Ryo-Oh-Ki!" she exclaimed, "You're okay!"

The two friends embraced, and Sasami laughed with relief and joy.

---

Ryoko and Mihoshi had been spending the entire afternoon outside, training. Ryoko wanted to learn how to fight without seeing, so she had devised a game where she and Mihoshi each wore a scarf around the waist. The first to remove her opponent's scarf was the winner. So far, she and Mihoshi were tied 2-2. Ryoko had lost the first two games, but had won the next two once she had become more accustomed to relying on her other senses to catch Mihoshi. Now was their fifth match, and of course Ryoko was determined to win and break the tie.

Ryoko smiled to herself. She was pleased at her progress so far. Her senses of smell and hearing had always been sharp, but once she had lost her sight, they had become even stronger. Her body even seemed to be developing new abilities. Some kind of new sense seemed to able to warn her if she was about to fly into something. Ryoko's smile widened. She was becoming increasingly confident that she was still able to protect Tenchi, and if any enemies decided that she wasn't a threat because she was blind ... well, they were in for a BIG surprise. The only thing that bothered Ryoko was that Ayeka was nowhere to be found. She had hoped that either Mihoshi or herself would run into the princess, but that had not happened yet.

Ryoko floated above the grass, listening carefully for any sound. Where was Mihoshi hiding this time? Ryoko could hear insects scurrying along the ground, leaves rustling in the breeze, and birds chirping in the distance. There was a hollow thump as a squirrel moved around inside a tree. Just then, Ryoko heard it: the slight scrape of a shoe against tree bark, right above her.

Ryoko moved aside just in time, and heard Mihoshi leap from the branches of the tree and pounce at the spot where she had been just a moment before. "You missed me!" Ryoko crowed, reaching out in Mihoshi's general direction.

There was the rustle of grass and the sound of feet pounding on the ground, as Mihoshi made a run for it. The detective was fast; the sound quickly grew faint as she got farther and farther away. Ryoko began to give chase before she lost the sound entirely.

_One advantage of being able to fly,_ Ryoko thought to herself, _is that my own feet aren't hitting the ground and drowning out the sound of Mihoshi's running._

WHUM-WHUM-WHUM...

What the heck was that noise? After a moment of confusion, Ryoko realized that it was must be Washu's portable washing machine. Washu had described the runaway invention during breakfast, saying that it made a WHUM-WHUM-WHUM-ing sort of sound. Ryoko grimaced. She couldn't hear anything over all the noise that stupid contraption was making!

_I guess I'll have to catch that thing and shut it off first._ Ryoko thought.

---

In the meantime, Mihoshi had ducked behind some bushes, hoping that the strong scent of the plants would hide her own scent. Upon hearing something go "WHUM-WHUM-WHUM", she peeked out and saw a box bouncing along the ground. On one side of the box was a picture of a crab.

"That's Washu's machine!" Mihoshi whispered to herself. Reaching into her hair, she pulled out her pink cube key. "Maybe I can materialize a net to catch it for Washu."

Seeing the pink cube in Mihoshi's hand, the bouncing box paused for a moment. The crab icon on it suddenly turned into a red heart, and the box made a leap for the cube key.

"Waah!" Mihoshi exclaimed, swatting the box away, "What are you doing? Stay away from my control cube!" She held her cube key tightly in both hands and began to run.

The washing machine bounced after her, WHUM-WHUM-WHUM-ing excitedly. It leapt into the air and used its lid to clamp onto one end of the scarf around Mihoshi's waist. The scarf came undone and the box hit the ground.

Just then, Ryoko came flying through the air. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed, grabbing onto the noisy box. Ryoko felt along the box until she hit a switch. The WHUM-WHUM-WHUM-ing began to die down.

Mihoshi saw the picture on the box turn into a broken heart, and then the noise stopped completely. "Wow!" she giggled, "Ryoko, you won!"

"Huh?"

"You got my scarf," Mihoshi explained, "You won the match!"

Ryoko suddenly realized that the washing machine was holding the scarf. "All right!" she shouted triumphantly.

"Too bad about Tenchi's shirt though," said Mihoshi, "It looks like it's been washed to death."

"Mom's inventions tend to be a bit too enthusiastic," Ryoko agreed, laughing, "Anyway, why don't we bring this thing to Mom's lab?"

Mihoshi was about to say something when a sudden loud "Miya!" cut her off, and a certain cabbit leapt onto Ryoko's head.

"Ryo-Oh-Ki!" Ryoko exclaimed, "It's you!"

"Hooray!" Mihoshi shouted, "She's okay!"

"Miya!"

Dropping the washing machine, Ryoko took the cabbit off her head and gave her a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're alright," she said softly, stroking her fur. Turning to Mihoshi, she added thoughtfully: "You know, because of our mental link, Ryo-Oh-Ki can be a great 'seeing-eye cabbit'."

"Wow!" said Mihoshi, "I'm so happy for you! This is great!"

"Well, I still want to be independent, just in case," said Ryoko, "So, thanks for all your help, Mihoshi."

"No problem," Mihoshi said, picking up the washing machine, "Now, why don't I bring this thing to Washu and let you two have some time alone?"

The detective hummed a cheery tune as she left the reunited friends and headed home.

---

Mihoshi stepped out of a clump of trees and saw Funaho a little distance away from her. "Whoops," she said to herself, "I guess I took a wrong turn."

Mihoshi was about to walk back the way she came, when she suddenly noticed a purple-haired figure lying near Funaho.

"Ayeka!" she called out, "I found you!"

She began to run towards the princess, "You have to come home! Everyone's been worried about you!"

Why didn't Ayeka move? The detective knelt by the woman and noticed with a twinge of fear that she seemed unusually pale. Letting go of the washing machine, Mihoshi placed a trembling finger on Ayeka's throat. It was cold. Mihoshi felt around the princess' neck for a pulse, and found none. She screamed.

---

Ryo-Oh-Ki explained to Ryoko that she was sent by Sasami to tell her that it was almost time for tea.

"So, Washu gave you a clean bill of health an hour ago?" Ryoko asked.

The cabbit nodded. "Mii, y'a myiaa Mi-ya-a." she added.

"What?" Ryoko exclaimed, "Ayeka talked to you? Where?"

Ryo-Oh-Ki said something about a bright white place, much to Ryoko's puzzlement. She was about to ask the cabbit to elaborate, but she forgot about it when she heard a loud scream. "That's Mihoshi!" Ryoko shouted. Holding onto Ryo-Oh-Ki, she flew off in the direction of the scream.

Ryoko arrived at the site of the holy tree. Through Ryo-Oh-Ki's eyes, she saw Mihoshi kneeling near Funaho, performing CPR on an unusually pale Ayeka. Not knowing what was wrong, Ryoko quickly decided against moving the princess. "I'll get help!" she shouted to Mihoshi before teleporting away.

---

Sasami stepped into Washu's lab, carrying Mayuka in her arms. Now that Ryo-Oh-Ki was better, Washu and Kiyone were busy with a new project, designing devices to help Ryoko. After all, Ryo-Oh-Ki might not be able to stay with Ryoko all of the time. Although Sasami did not want to interrupt the scientist and her assistant, she knew that they needed a break, so she had come to inform them that it was time for tea.

Spotting Washu and Kiyone standing among some machinery in the distance, Sasami was about to call out to them, when Ryoko suddenly materialized, with Ryo-Oh-Ki on her shoulder.

"Mom!" Ryoko shouted, "Ayeka's by Funaho! She's not breathing!"

Sasami froze.

"Take us there!" Washu exclaimed.

Ryoko held onto Washu and Kiyone, and they all teleported out of the lab.

"Wait!" Sasami shouted, too late.

Turning, the young princess ran out of the lab, and kept running until she reached the front gate outside the house. "Watch Mayuka for me!" she told Azaka and Kamidake, putting the baby down between them.

"Yes, princess!" the guardians replied, but Sasami was already running again.

---

Ryoko, Ryo-Oh-Ki, Washu, and Kiyone materialized in front of Funaho. Mihoshi was still trying CPR on Ayeka, and didn't look up. Washu quickly made her transparent computer appear, while Kiyone took something out of her pocket: a small rod with a wire wrapped around it. Kiyone quickly unwound the wire and plugged the end of it into Washu's computer.

Kiyone held the rod over Ayeka. A bright blue light, which Mihoshi ignored, scanned Ayeka's head. Readings began to appear on Washu's computer screen.

"No..." Washu whispered, staring at the information. Abruptly, she made her computer vanish.

Kiyone dropped the rod in shock.

"We're too late," Washu murmured, bowing her head.

Ryoko buried her face in her hands as Ryo-Oh-Ki let out a confused whimper.

Kiyone suddenly realized that Mihoshi had not stopped trying to revive the princess. She knelt behind Mihoshi and gently pulled her away. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"I ... promised..." Mihoshi whimpered, before letting out a loud wail and burying her face in Kiyone's shoulder. Hugging Mihoshi tightly, Kiyone could feel her shoulder becoming wet. At the same time, tears began to run down her own face.

Mihoshi began to whisper something over and over again. Kiyone had to strain to make out what she was saying: "Mizutani ... Mizutani..."

Kiyone recognized the name of Mihoshi's former partner, who was killed during the destruction of an entire planet. _It isn't fair,_ Kiyone thought, hugging her friend even more tightly than before.

Mihoshi's foot bumped against a gray tree branch in Ayeka's hand, and Kiyone's attention was drawn to a wooden stake that was jutting out of her wrist. Although there was no blood, Kiyone felt slightly sick. She noticed that there was a wooden stake in Ayeka's other wrist, as well. It looked like Juraian wood. A sudden, horrifying suspicion formed in Kiyone's mind. The detective looked at the tree Funaho. Sure enough, two of the roots were raised, and their ends appeared to have been chopped off.

"Oh, God," she whispered, "What happened here?"

---

The Masaki family van was nearly home. Nobuyuki's eyes left the road for a moment, to look at Tenchi. His son was staring out the window while fidgeting with the roadmap. Tenchi was nervously beginning to tear it into pieces. Nobuyuki frowned with concern. He had thought that Tenchi had outgrown that nervous habit at age twelve. _This is all my fault_, Nobuyuki thought, _I shouldn't have made Tenchi leave the house._

"Dad!" Tenchi suddenly shouted, "Watch the road!"

Nobuyuki yelped and quickly swerved to avoid hitting a tree.

"Sorry about that," said Nobuyuki, "I was..."

There was the sudden slam of a door as Tenchi left the van and began to run home.

"Wait for me!" Nobuyuki scrambled out of the van and ran after him.

---

Unable to put up with staying seated any longer, Tenchi had decided to run to the house. _I'm coming, Ryoko!_ he thought. _Oh God, why did I leave the house so soon?_

How could he have been so foolish? Why had he taken off without talking to Ayeka first? Now she had run away. Now Ryoko was blind. He knew that with Ryoko's mental link to Ryo-Oh-Ki, at least it could be possible for her to see through her cabbit's eyes. But if Ryo-Oh-Ki didn't come out of that coma...

Tenchi could see the front gate of the house. He could also see that something strange was going on. Azaka and Kamidake were at their usual posts. There was a clothesline strung between the guardians, heavy with Mayuka's diapers. That wasn't an unusual sight to him. What was unusual was that Mayuka was also between the guardians, floating in a protective force field that they had created.

"What's going on?" Tenchi called out to the guardians.

"Welcome home, Lord Tenchi!" said Azaka.

"Princess Sasami told us to watch Mayuka," Kamidake explained, "She seemed upset about something. She ran off in Funaho's direction."

"Thanks!" said Tenchi, turning and running off towards the holy tree's place. _What's happening now? Ryoko, please be all right!_

Nobuyuki struggled to keep up.

---

Sasami was running as fast as she could. Her breath was ragged from running so hard. She was reminded of something that had happened over 700 years ago...

******************************************************************

Ayeka was walking through one of the Juraian palace's many gardens. Even though Ayeka was only walking, young Sasami had to run to try and keep up, and she was still getting farther and farther behind.

Despite Sasami's cries of "Ayeka! Wait for me!" the older princess kept walking. Sasami struggled to run faster, as her elder sister kept moving farther ahead. _Sister! Don't leave me!_ the little girl thought frantically, _Please don't leave me!_

"Ayeka!" Sasami cried desperately, before stumbling and falling onto the ground. "Ow!" she shouted.

Suddenly Ayeka was right there, saying "Sasami! Are you okay?"

Sasami tried to voice her fears of abandonment, tried to describe her nightmares of Ayeka leaving one day and never coming back. Instead, she began to cry.

"It's all right, Sasami," Ayeka said softly, putting her arms around the small girl.

_Please don't leave me,_ Sasami thought.

******************************************************************

_Don't die, Ayeka,_ Sasami thought as she ran closer to Funaho's place, _Please don't leave us!_

Sasami let out a startled shriek as she tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground. She began to cry. For a brief moment, Sasami hoped that Ayeka would appear and comfort her, just like she had during that incident 700 years ago, but she did not.

There was a sudden breeze, and Tsunami was standing before her.

"Tsunami!" Sasami cried, "Y-you have to go to Funaho, Ayeka's hurt!"

Sasami suddenly noticed that the white figure of Tsunami was even more transparent than usual. She also seemed to be fading in and out of existence.

"Forgive me, Sasami," said Tsunami, her voice sounding weak, "I was unable to arrive sooner..."

Tsunami touched Sasami's shoulders with her pale hands, and both she and Sasami disappeared.

Moments later, Tenchi came running up the path, with Nobuyuki running after him.

---

Upon arriving at Funaho's clearing, Tenchi saw Washu first. The redheaded scientist avoided his gaze. Tenchi was about ask her what was happening, when he suddenly noticed Ryoko walking towards him. To his surprise, a crying Ryo-Oh-Ki was perched on her head. Ryoko held her arms out shakily in front of her. Tenchi ran into her arms, and she hugged him so tightly that the breath was nearly squeezed out of him.

Ryoko's breathing was uneven, and Tenchi was overcome with a feeling of dread.

"Ayeka's dead, Tenchi," said Ryoko, her voice breaking, "W-we don't know what happened..."

Ryoko tried to continue speaking, but she choked and fell silent. Tenchi could feel Ryoko's embrace become even tighter, as if she sensed the horrible feeling of coldness that was beginning to swallow him. Tenchi wanted to say something, but his voice was gone. Ryoko suddenly began to shake him, and he became dimly aware of someone saying his name. He finally realized that it was Mihoshi.

"I couldn't save her, Tenchi!" Mihoshi was saying between sobs, "I couldn't save her!" Kiyone placed her hand on Mihoshi's shoulder and began to speak softly to her.

Tenchi began to walk unsteadily towards the body. Ryoko clung to him tightly as she walked beside him. Tenchi couldn't believe that this was happening. Except for being somewhat pale, Ayeka simply appeared to be sleeping, like a princess in a fairytale. She couldn't be dead! Everything that he had not yet expressed to her whirled through his mind. Apologies, for hiding what he felt about Ryoko. Gratitude, for her friendship. Love, for her being a part of his family. Two nights ago, he had thought to leave her alone for a while, to let her have some privacy and solitude first. Now, completely alone, she had departed.

Kneeling, Tenchi placed a trembling hand on Ayeka's forearm. He tried to find his voice again, as if to somehow call her back, but no sound came from his throat. However, he could clearly hear his heart thudding in his ears, and he knew what his inner voice was saying: _I will never forgive myself. I will never forgive myself._

---

Katsuhito ran towards Funaho's clearing. He had a feeling that something had happened to his tree. Racing out of the woods, he came to a halt when he saw Washu standing before him. Her eyes were red, and there were dried tears on her face.

"Your sister..." she began, but Katsuhito had already seen the body, and began to walk towards it. "Did you know that this would happen, Lord Katsuhito?" she asked softly.

Katsuhito kept walking. He noticed that his son-in-law was there. He had removed his glasses and was wiping at his eyes. Tenchi was there as well, crying into Ryoko's shoulder. Ryoko was trying to comfort him, but she could not stop trembling.

Katsuhito finally reached Kiyone's side. Her eyes were as red-rimmed as Washu's. She was staring down at Ayeka's body. Upon noticing him, Kiyone wordlessly gestured at the wooden stakes in his sister's wrists, then pointed at Funaho's roots.

The only thing that went through Katsuhito's mind was a memory of the night before, when Tsunami had told him not to search for Ayeka. "Why?" he said in a shaky whisper, "Why, Tsunami?"

Tenchi raised his head at Katsuhito's voice. "Grandpa, w-where's Sasami?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

His question was answered when the young princess suddenly emerged from the woods, walking towards them.

Washu tried to block her path. "Don't look, Sasami..." Washu began, but Sasami pushed past her and kept walking.

The princess stopped in front of Ayeka's body. She gazed at it for several minutes without blinking. "Forgive me for taking so long to arrive," she said softly, her voice sounding strange, "I did not mean for any of you to have to experience such grief."

"Tsunami?" Katsuhito asked, staring at Sasami.

Sasami/Tsunami nodded. "I am sorry," she said, "I cannot stay long..."

She suddenly blinked and said, "Ow, my head..." in her regular Sasami voice, before stiffening and speaking as Tsunami again.

"Keep this branch with you," Sasami/Tsunami said, indicating the gray tree branch in Ayeka's hand, "Do not worry about Ayeka. Forgive me, my powers are being spent elsewhere..."

Sasami began to glow, and then the transparent figure of Tsunami suddenly rose out of the princess and vanished. Sasami shook her head and blinked several times. She gasped when she saw that Ayeka's body was beginning to shimmer. Moments later, it disappeared, leaving the tree branch behind.

"Tsunami said not to worry about Ayeka," said Sasami, "So everything's okay, right?"

Before Tenchi could react, Mihoshi dashed to Sasami's side and held her close, whispering, "No, Sasami. Don't hold it back. It's okay to be scared."

Sasami began to cry, throwing her arms around Mihoshi's neck.

"I know," Mihoshi said, beginning to cry again, "I know..."

A butterfly emerged from somewhere within Funaho's leaves, and perched on the tree branch Ayeka had left behind. Tenchi stared at the butterfly, until tears blurred his vision so that he could no longer see it. When he blinked, the butterfly was gone.

Sasami sniffled and wiped her eyes. She turned and looked directly at Tenchi. To his astonishment, she began to smile.

"I'm scared," Sasami said quietly, "but I'm so proud, too. Ayeka's going to help save our family."

Sasami rested her head against Mihoshi and fell asleep.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: How do you say goodbye to someone you care deeply about? Someone you knew very well, and yet didn't get to know as well as you wanted to? Don't miss Chapter 4 of Confess to You: "Remembering and Learning".

Author's notes: The name of Mihoshi's old partner, Yuri Mizutani, is a combination of "Yuri Amano" and "Yuko Mizutani", the voice actors for Kiyone and Mihoshi, respectively. So, what caused the sun of Detective Mizutani's home planet to explode? That will come up in a later chapter. Please be patient with me.

Sasami's "Ayeka! Wait for me!" flashback is from OAV episode 9.

The next chapter, as you might have guessed, is a tribute to Ayeka, but it is also for those of you who have asked me when Sasami would do anything interesting in this series. (This is why I need you to E-mail me! How else can I know what you want to see?) For those of you wondering when I'm going to get back to the Ryoko + Tenchi stuff, there'll be some of that next chapter, and a lot more of it in Chapter 5. Don't miss it!

Let's see ... is there anything else? Oh yeah, please send me C&C, suggestions, or questions concerning the story. I would also appreciate feedback on my other fics: "With my love always", "Where the Sky Meets the Sea", and "Kiyone's Birthday" (shameless plugs). Thanks for reading, and (hopefully) I'll see you next chapter!

Thought of the day: Tenchi has got to be the soundest sleeper in the universe. I mean, in OAV episode 7, he slept through the entire night, without even once waking up and seeing Ryoko watching him. Then in OAV 11-12, Zero plunges an energy dagger into his pillow and SCREAMS, and he doesn't wake up! (Let's face it, in Manatsu no Eve, I don't think Yuzuha needed to put him into a trance for Mayuka to get away with all that yucky stuff she did.) What I want to know is, WHAT DOES TENCHI TAKE BEFORE HE GOES TO BED, AND WHERE CAN I GET SOME?

Text copyright 1999, Literary Eagle  
(But most of the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)


	4. Remembering and Learning

Hi, welcome back! Thanks for reading Chapters 1-3! (An extra big thank-you to those who sent comments and criticism! Keep it coming!) Listen up, Ryoko+Tenchi fans: the chapter after this one will have plenty of stuff devoted to them! I can tell you're happy now! *wink*

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are the property of Pioneer and AIC. This story, however, is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun. Besides, I don't have any money. The last time I went into #FanFics, my wallet was assimilated by the Cabbit Collective.

[Wallet-Oh-Ki: We are the Cabbit Collective. Resistance is futile.]

Er... anyway, if you want to post this story on your site, please ask me first.

Special thanks go to my prereaders: AleeN, author of "Tenchi Muyo: in Return to Jurai", the writing duo of Max Gilliland and Rhys Doyle, authors of "Best Friends", and Lost Magi, author of "For the Love of Heaven and Earth: A Journey Beyond"!

Last chapter: One year after the events of Manatsu no Eve, Tsunami asked Ayeka to begin an important journey, one of self-discovery ... and great sacrifice. How will the others react to the loss of their friend ... and family member?

Confess to You: Chapter Four - Remembering and Learning  
By Literary Eagle

Tenchi stared at the spot on the ground where Ayeka's body had been discovered ... a spot that was now bare, empty. In other words, a spot that seemed to perfectly mirror some part inside of him.

Ayeka was gone. No warning, no goodbye, nothing. Just a lifeless, pale body, and even that had disappeared...

Turning his head, Tenchi gazed at the tree Funaho. He remembered a time, several years ago, when he had stood there with Ayeka. She had offered him Yosho's sword, Tenchiken, saying that it was rightfully his. She had actually asked him - Him! - to use it to protect her and Sasami, despite his insistence that he was no good at handling that sword. She had believed in him.

She never stopped believing in him, either. Tenchi understood that. Why else would she choose to stay on Earth, even when her family had come to take her home? Why would she give up the royal life? Why would she, a princess, want to stay here and do laundry and weed the flower beds, smiling at him all the while, unless...

Tenchi had known for a considerable time that she was in love with him. And although Tenchi had admired her gentle strength, for lack of a better description, and saw many other wonderful qualities in the princess, he had never loved her as more than a friend, or an important part of his family. But he had never told her that.

And ... and ... when Ryoko had begun to win his heart (he wasn't quite sure exactly when that started but the important thing was that it HAD), he still had not told Ayeka exactly how he felt about her. He had been afraid of hurting her ... and in all his foolishness he had not seen that living a lie would only make matters worse for Ayeka when she found out. And find out she did. So what had he done? Left the house the next day for a fishing trip with his father, completely forgetting about her. He had returned, but by then it was too late.

Tenchi was uncertain of what had transpired during his absence, but it boiled down to Ayeka, alone and distraught ... and some kind of horrible accident borne out of utter misery and dejection ... so that now his beloved Ryoko was blind, and one of his closest friends was gone.

She had believed in him.

He had let her down.

Tenchi couldn't understand just what had happened to Ayeka yesterday, but he knew that he should have been here to prevent it. Despite what Sasami, only semi-conscious, had murmured to him just this morning ("Tsunami takes care of her own"), he couldn't simply accept whatever fate had befallen Ayeka. He wanted to know, NEEDED to know, if he could have done something. Something, anything!

Perhaps Sasami would be able to provide a clearer explanation eventually. But for now, she was still asleep in her room. She had slept most of the time since the disappearance of Ayeka's body yesterday afternoon.

A slight rustling sound informed Tenchi that he was no longer alone in Funaho's clearing. Tenchi whirled around, and saw Ryoko carefully making her way towards him. Her arms were full of reddish-purple flowers, and Ryo-Oh-Ki was nowhere in sight.

"Ryoko..." Tenchi said softly, "You shouldn't be wandering around by yourself like that..."

Ryoko did not reply. Instead, she stopped before the spot where Ayeka's body had been, knelt, and placed the flowers there.

Tenchi recognized them as the wildflowers that grew around the stairs leading to the shrine. It was only now that he noticed how they were the same color as Ayeka's eyes. Ryoko turned her bandaged head in his general direction.

"Let's go home, okay, Tenchi?" Ryoko said softly.

Tenchi almost nodded, but quickly remembered that Ryoko would not be able to see it. "Sure," he said instead, helping her to stand.

Taking Ryoko by the hand, he led her out of the clearing. Ryoko suddenly began to walk faster, so that she was leading Tenchi through the forest instead. Tenchi blinked in amazement when he saw that she managed to avoid bumping into any of the trees. "How..." he began.

"It's like some kind of new intuition," she replied softly, "Mom says my body is adapting to the blindness by creating new senses. It's how I got to the clearing by myself. As for the flowers, I gathered them by scent. So don't worry about me, okay?"

From the way Ryoko had said that last sentence, she sounded almost angry. Tenchi knew why. Frustration. Ryoko was frustrated, that she had not been with Ayeka when...

Tenchi bit his lower lip so hard that it almost bled.

"Tenchi," Ryoko whispered suddenly, "Don't blame yourself, okay? Sasami said that, whatever's happening now, it was Ayeka's choice. We just have to trust Tsunami..."

Tenchi shook his head, even though Ryoko could not see it. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, though, and the two of them walked the rest of the way home in silence.

---

Ryoko screamed as she swung her energy sword through the projectile that came her way. Hearing another one being launched, she whirled in its direction and swung. She grunted in satisfaction when she heard her sword destroy the object.

Another of her mother's combat robots fired three projectiles at once. Ryoko let out a scream of frustration and rage. Her intuition faltered, so she settled for swinging her sword wildly. She missed one of her targets, and it hit her in the stomach. Ryoko fell over in surprise, but not before another projectile struck her shoulder.

There was a clicking noise as someone shut off the combat robots. Ryoko recognized her mother's scent.

"What are you doing here?" Washu asked.

Ryoko turned her head in Washu's general direction. "Please leave me alone," she said quietly.

"Ryoko, do you like being in pain?" said Washu, "Come on, don't do this. Talk to me, okay?"

Ryoko sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore, Mom! I ... I tried so hard to learn how to fight without eyesight, and I still can't keep things from hurting Tenchi! I'm afraid that I'll lose him ... I am losing him, I just know it..."

Washu put her arms around Ryoko. "Sweetie, Tenchi didn't fall in love with a bodyguard." She helped her daughter to stand.

"It's so hard to know what to do..." Ryoko whispered.

"I know," said Washu, "I know that Tenchi is hurting right now, but just give him time. When he's ready for you to comfort him, then just be there for him..."

"'Just give him time'?" Ryoko muttered, "That's what you told Tenchi to do with Ayeka..."

"I-I'm sorry, Ryoko..." Washu said sadly, "I guess I just don't have much experience dealing with people, either." She laughed humorlessly. "I guess what we have here is a classic example of..." she stopped abruptly when she realized what she was going to say.

"A classic example of the blind leading the blind?" Ryoko finished for her. Ryoko's bandage flexed slightly as she raised an eyebrow.

Washu felt a sudden urge to hit herself over the head with something. _Damn,_ she thought, _Some genius I am._

From her floating crib, Mayuka began to cry.

Washu and Ryoko both moved towards the baby at the same time.

"She's hungry," said Ryoko, "I can tell by the pitch of her cry..."

"Impressive..." Washu replied, "Well, let's take her to the kitchen, then. I gotta make lunch, anyway."

Ryoko took Mayuka in her arms, and the two women began to make their way out of the lab. "I remember when Ayeka and I are were trying to feed Taro," said Ryoko, smiling at the memory, "We got into an argument and started squirting milk at each other ... we ended up getting more milk than the baby!"

Washu gave her daughter's arm a gentle squeeze.

"She's all right, you know," Ryoko said as she tried to calm Mayuka, "Ayeka's all right."

"How do you know?" Washu asked.

"I trust Tsunami," Ryoko said firmly, "When Kagato ... when he killed Tenchi ... Tsunami brought him back to me. I trust her."

Mayuka abruptly stopped crying.

"I trust her," Ryoko said again.

---

Kiyone carefully watered the bright red and purple flowers in the garden. Although the garden was one of her favorite places at the Masaki home, she was not getting the enjoyment that she usually did from tending the flowers.

The detective sighed. Lunch, which was normally a happy time at this household, had been too quiet for her tastes. Sasami still slept most of the time, and Mihoshi and Ryo-Oh-Ki had stayed with the young princess in her room. They had been staying with her since yesterday. Meanwhile, Tenchi had refused to leave his room, and Katsuhito had stayed at the shrine. And of course, there was Ayeka...

That left Ryoko, Washu, Nobuyuki, Mayuka, and herself to spend about twenty awkward minutes playing with their food. Washu's cooking had been delicious, but no one really seemed comfortable eating with so much of the family missing. Even Mayuka had wanted less milk than usual.

_It's also too quiet here,_ Kiyone thought to herself. Usually, she was never alone in the garden. She often tended the garden with Ayeka, who liked to talk to her about flowers and the weather and the latest news on television ... and just about anything else, really. Ayeka had been very welcoming when Kiyone had first joined the Masaki household. Perhaps she had been glad to have a friend who didn't make any passes at Tenchi, and who could hold a more sophisticated conversation than Mihoshi. Whatever the reason, Ayeka had been a good friend to Kiyone, and the garden wasn't the same without her.

Kiyone smiled at a memory of last year, when Ayeka told the sixteen-year-old Mayuka that she could join the family, too, and celebrate Christmas with them. Ayeka had done that despite the fact that Mayuka seemed to be a rival for Tenchi's attention. It was that kind of graciousness, and not some title, which made Ayeka a true princess.

Someone put a straw hat onto Kiyone's head, startling her out of her contemplation.

"You shouldn't go under the summer sun without a hat," Nobuyuki's voice sounded from right behind her.

Kiyone turned to him and smiled weakly. If it wasn't Ayeka accompanying Kiyone in the garden, the next likely person to be with her was Nobuyuki. He had told her how much he and his wife had hoped to have both a son and a daughter ... and it was pretty obvious that he saw her as a big sister to Tenchi. Certainly she did feel a certain protectiveness towards Tenchi, and to be honest, Tenchi was very much like a younger brother to her.

Nobuyuki returned Kiyone's small smile, but turned serious a moment later. "I was just on my way to talk to Tenchi..." he said softly.

Kiyone knew that Nobuyuki was asking for advice. "Tell him," she said, "that this isn't his fault. It's nobody's fault. No one could have known..." Kiyone's hand instinctively went to her forehead, to her red headband. _Father..._ She shook her head. "Sometimes you just can't know, and it's no one's fault when that happens."

"Thanks," said Nobuyuki. He gave Kiyone a quick hug, then turned and headed back towards the house.

"I don't want you to blame yourself, either," Kiyone called out to him before he went inside, "You're a good father. Don't ever think otherwise."

Kiyone went back to watering the flowers. Suddenly turning off the hose, she watched the drops of water left on the flowers and leaves. Some stayed in place, looking like little shining jewels, or stars captured in the centers of the flowers. Others began to run down the leaves in little rivulets. The resulting designs looked almost like writing. Had Ayeka's story ended? Countless other stories were affected by hers. What would happen to those stories now?

"What will happen now?" Kiyone whispered.

She heard no response, although it was not like she had expected any.

It was too quiet in the garden now.

---

Somehow, a dragonfly had gotten inside Tenchi's room. Tenchi lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, watching the dragonfly in flight. He used to chase dragonflies when he was young. He would catch one, and then he and his mother would admire the pretty insect before setting it free.

Mother.

Shortly before her death ... he had told her that he hated her.

Tenchi thought back to his school days, when he would usually refuse to say anything back to classmates who teased him. His friend Amagasaki would shake his head and say, "Geez, Tenchi, you're such a wuss!" whenever that happened. Tenchi could almost hear that small voice that had stayed in the back of his mind all those many years, that secret fear which had said, "Better to be a 'wuss' than to let that happen again. Yes, better that, than to say something harmful again..."

What he had said to his mother, that nightmare which was not a nightmare, had been half-forgotten, but never completely gone...

Better to be a "wuss" than to do harm again...

Killing Kagato with the Light Hawk Sword, though ... he hadn't had any regrets about that. It had been to protect his friends, to protect the universe from a tyrant who had already brought about massive destruction, and who had made Ryoko and countless others suffer.

His creation of the Light Hawk Wings during the threat from a black hole had not bothered him, either. Although he could not understand this power of his, he had used it to protect. Tsunami's reassurance ("Have faith in your own power") and the confidence that Ayeka and the others had in him, had helped to convince him that this ability should not be seen as something to shy away from. He remembered the applause and congratulations that the entire household had given him, on the day when he created the Light Hawk Sword at will for the first time.

What the others had not known was that, earlier that day, Tenchi had visited his mother's tombstone, and made a promise to her. He had promised her that he would try to treat people with the same altruism that she always had, and that he would spend the rest of his life using the power for that purpose...

Then came the day when Tenchi battled Yuzuha. Ayeka had appeared in the air, shining like an angel, clad in her lavender nightgown, and holding a branch that would allow him to use his power in the Dimension of Darkness. And so, Tenchi had confidently plunged his Light Hawk Sword into Yuzuha, knowing that he was using his powers for good. Yes, he was using them to protect his friends again, to fulfill his promise to his mother, and to destroy this evil monster who had killed Mayuka ... that was when he saw the secret in her heart. In his outrage, in what he had thought was righteous anger, it had not even occurred to him that Yuzuha had a heart. But she did. And it had been broken, because she had loved ... she had loved Yosho.

Suddenly, Tenchi no longer saw a monster, but a child, a sad and lonely child. A dying child, for he had struck her with the Light Hawk Sword.

"Imagine, the darkness in love with the light..." she had said, her dying, tear-filled eyes gazing sadly into his.

_I abused the power,_ Tenchi said to himself, _It shouldn't have ended for Yuzuha like that. What I did wasn't justice. It wasn't right. It wasn't right at all._

Yuzuha.

Mother.

Ayeka.

Tenchi's right hand twitched. The hand, he reminded himself, that had slapped Ryoko last summer. Tenchi turned over on the bed, burying his face in his arms. He longed to go to Ryoko. It was killing him to not be with Ryoko right now. But he just couldn't face her.

How could someone like Ryoko love him?

How could someone like Ayeka believe in him?

There was a sudden knock at his door. Who could that be? Was it Ryoko? Part of Tenchi hoped that it was, but part of him thought that the sight of her bandaged head would be too much right now. Tenchi sat up. _No,_ he told himself, _What happened to Ryoko is your fault. You're going to face it, and you're going to do everything you can for her._

"Come in," he said softly.

---

Hearing Tenchi's voice saying to come in, Nobuyuki slid the door open and stepped into his son's room. Tenchi was sitting on his bed. He seemed surprised at the sight of his father.

"Hi, Dad..." Tenchi said uncertainly.

Nobuyuki sat down beside Tenchi on the bed. Tenchi looked terrible. His eyes looked slightly red from crying, and there were dried tears on his face. Nobuyuki desperately searched his mind for something to say. He just didn't know where to start! His wife had been so much better at this sort of thing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he finally said.

Tenchi was silent for a time. "It's like with Mom, all over again," he said finally, "When I didn't think to tell her that I loved her before she..."

Nobuyuki nodded.

"I didn't say a word to Ayeka before we left home," Tenchi continued, "And now she's gone. I can't tell her how ... I can't tell her anything."

By this time Nobuyuki was really struggling to find something to say. But Tenchi was already speaking again.

"I ... I never wanted to repeat the mistake I made with Mom, but now I've gone and done it again! I've tried ... all these years I've tried to ... I mean, I hoped that maybe Mom could see that I ... I wanted nothing more than to follow her example."

Tenchi stared at his hands, as if he expected to see something there. "I used to have this dream a lot..." he said, "I would see Mom scrubbing blood off the floor. I'd look down at my hands and find blood there. I'd look up again, but Mom would be gone. I'd go and scrub at the blood that she had tried to clean up, but the pool would just get bigger and bigger, no matter how hard I tried to..."

Tenchi stared at his hands for another moment, before wringing them tightly. "I should have been here for Ayeka," he sobbed, "If it had been Mom, she would have been here. This is my fault, I know it is..."

Nobuyuki was very near tears himself. This was the kind of moment when he missed his wife the most, not so much for himself, but for Tenchi. He put his arm around Tenchi. "Not everything's about you, Tenchi..."

"And just what the hell does that mean?" Tenchi snapped, although he immediately seemed to regret his outburst.

"I'm sorry, that didn't come out right," Nobuyuki said quickly, "What I meant to say, Tenchi, is that you can't blame yourself every time something bad happens to someone you care about. No matter how much we don't want bad things to happen, they do, and sometimes it's nobody's fault." _Thanks, Kiyone,_ Nobuyuki added silently.

Tenchi sighed and leaned his head against Nobuyuki's shoulder. They remained silent for a time, the ticking of Tenchi's alarm clock the only sound in the room.

"Sasami," Tenchi said suddenly, "I should go to her ... make sure she's all right."

Nobuyuki nodded in understanding.

"Thanks Dad," Tenchi said.

"Anytime, okay?" he replied. He stood to leave, and patted Tenchi on the shoulder.

Tenchi suddenly stood and hugged him tightly, then stepped out of his room. Nobuyuki followed him out into the hall, then headed for the stairs.

Tenchi, meanwhile, stood before the door to Sasami's room. Sasami and Ayeka's room. He took a deep breath and tried to remember Ryoko's embrace, or his father's arm around him, anything but those dark shadows of the past that he felt swirling around him, and closing in...

---

Tenchi knocked on Sasami's door.

"Come in," he heard Mihoshi's voice say.

Tenchi slid the door open and stepped inside. Sasami was on her futon, still sleeping. Ryo-Oh-Ki was in her toddler form, watching Mihoshi scribbling on paper.

"Blue," Mihoshi murmured.

"Bloo," said Ryo-Oh-Ki, handing Mihoshi a blue crayon. The blonde detective scribbled some more.

"Mihoshi, how long have you been up?" Tenchi asked.

"Hmm?" she said, glancing up. The circles under her eyes more or less answered Tenchi's question.

Just then, the door slid open. "Mihoshi!" said Kiyone, "Nobuyuki told me you were still here ... I thought you said you were going to bed!"

"Orange," Mihoshi said, pretending not to have heard.

"Or-anj" said Ryo-Oh-Ki, handing her the orange crayon.

"No oranges, ifs, ands, or buts!" said Kiyone. She strode across the room and took Mihoshi rather forcefully by the arm, making her stand, "You were up all night! Get some sleep before you make yourself sick!"

"But Kiyone, I ... zzzzzzzz..." Mihoshi had fallen asleep standing up.

Tenchi moved to help Kiyone, but the green-haired woman shook her head. "It's okay," she said, "I've done this before..."

Kiyone carefully made her way out of the room while supporting her sleeping friend. Tenchi looked at Ryo-Oh-Ki. "How could you let Mihoshi do that?" he asked, more puzzled than angry.

"No want to," said Ryo-Oh-Ki, presenting her little hands palms outward, "But Mi-ho-shi say no Mi-zu-ta-ni. Mi-zu-ta-ni like big sis-ter. Mi-ho-shi no big sis-ter ... Sa-sa-mi no big sis-ter."

Tenchi sighed. Sometimes, the way Ryo-Oh-Ki spoke Japanese was only marginally more comprehensible than her cabbit-speak. What on Earth did "Mi-zu-ta-ni" mean? He glanced at the paper that Mihoshi had been scribbling on. It was an incomplete doodle of Sasami, being handed some sort of baton by Ryo-Oh-Ki (in cabbit form).

"What the..." Tenchi began, when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around his neck from behind.

"Hi, Tenchi!" Sasami exclaimed, giggling.

"Yaaaaah!" was Tenchi's response.

The paper he was holding fluttered to the floor, and Sasami, seemingly full of boundless energy, let go of Tenchi and snatched up the paper to look at the drawing.

Tenchi looked at Sasami's now unoccupied futon, and then looked back at the excited thirteen-year-old. How had she gone from being so tired to ... this?

Sasami suddenly calmed down and looked serious when something seemed to occur to her. "Oh no..." she said softly, "Was Mihoshi up all night working on this?"

"Working on what?" Tenchi asked.

"She must have been trying to finish the story..." Sasami murmured, indicating a pile of papers that Tenchi had not noticed before.

Tenchi looked at the paper on top of the pile, and saw that it also appeared to be a doodle of Sasami. "What story? Why did Mihoshi draw all these?"

Taking a closer look at Sasami, he saw that her eyes seemed unusually bright, and her cheeks were slightly pink, almost as if she were feverish. "Sasami," he said, concerned, "Are you okay? Do you have a fever?"

Sasami shook her head. "It's just ... Tsunami, that's all," she said.

Seemingly unaware that her explanation made no sense to him, Sasami sat down on her futon, motioning for him to sit beside her. Tenchi did so, and Sasami said quietly, "Tenchi, I know you're upset about what happened to Ayeka, but I don't want you to worry about her. And you don't have to worry about me, either. Tsunami has been explaining to me, and I know that Ayeka's okay." She placed one of her hands over his and gave Tenchi a small smile.

Tenchi couldn't believe it. He felt as if he was the thirteen-year-old, and she was twenty-one, rather than the other way around. Sasami's expression became serious again. "I still miss her," she said, "but I know that Tsunami believes that Ayeka can do what she requires of her. Ayeka's helping Tsunami, and ... I'm proud of her."

Sasami reached into a wooden storage unit that resembled a log, and pulled out a book. "It'll help me to feel like Ayeka's still here if I look at this," she said, smiling.

She handed the book to Tenchi. "You look, too," she said to him. Opening the book, Tenchi's eyes were greeted by a lifelike painting of Sasami wearing the most ridiculously short skirt he had ever seen. If it weren't for his serious mood, he probably would have laughed. "What is this?" he asked, as Sasami giggled and squeezed his hand.

"What is what?" Ryoko's voice said as she phased through the door.

Ryo-Oh-Ki changed back into her cabbit form, and scrambled onto Ryoko's shoulder with a joyous "Miya!".

Smiling, Ryoko sat down beside Tenchi and squeezed his other hand. He wanted to say something to her, but she said, "Shhh. It's okay."

Ryo-Oh-Ki stared intently at the picture, and Tenchi knew that Ryoko must be looking at the book through her cabbit's eyes. "This is Ayeka's signature," said Ryoko, pointing at something written in Juraiji at the corner of the page.

Sasami nodded. "Ayeka learned how to paint back on Jurai. She used to write and illustrate lots of books for me during her spare time."

Suddenly, Ryoko began to laugh, squeezing Tenchi's hand so hard that he winced.

"Ow! What's so funny?" he asked. Suddenly, he began to smile, even though he didn't get the joke. Seeing Ryoko laughing despite her condition, well... it was wonderful. Tenchi wrapped his arms around Ryoko and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back, laughing the whole time.

Sasami watched them, her bright pink eyes shining with delight.

"Now, what's so funny?" Tenchi asked again.

Ryoko pointed at Ayeka's painting. "D-don't you remember the description in that crazy story Mihoshi told us?" she said, still unable to stop laughing, "That ... that's Pretty Sammy!"

Tenchi blinked. Good grief, she was right!

"That's right!" said Sasami, her smile as bright as her eyes, "Ayeka wrote stories where I turned into a magical girl, Pretty Sammy!"

"So that's where Mihoshi got that from," said Tenchi, chuckling.

For the next few hours, Sasami showed a captivated audience the many books that Ayeka had made for her. Sasami read them aloud, since Tenchi was illiterate when it came to Juraiji. Tenchi recognized one of the passages as part of the bedtime story that he had overheard Ayeka reading out loud, on the night he had told Ryoko what he felt about her. He hadn't realized at the time that Ayeka had actually written the story she had been reading!

The earlier Pretty Sammy tales, the ones that Ayeka had written on Jurai, were about a Juraian empress named Tsunami, whose unconventional way of doing things often shocked the Juraian nobles, but always managed to win the day. Instead of marrying, this Empress Tsunami had adopted a girl named Sammy, who enjoyed using her magical powers to foil those who plotted against her foster mother.

The stories made a great many references to Juraian culture and politics, most of which went right over Tenchi's head, although a good deal of these allusions sent Sasami and even Ryoko into fits of giggling. However, Tenchi found himself spellbound by these tales anyway, because of the illustrations. He had never known that Ayeka was such an incredibly skilled artist. The detailed drawings and vivid colors often made Tenchi forget that he was looking at a book.

His favorite painting was one of Empress Tsunami playing hide-and-seek with her adopted daughter in the throne room. It showed Tsunami crawling out from under the throne after her daughter had caught her. Dust bunnies clung to her silken robes and aqua blue hair. In the background stood several Juraian nobles, their mouths hanging open in shock at their ruler's behavior.

But Empress Tsunami's shining pink eyes and wide smile, which seemed to perfectly mirror Princess Sammy's merry eyes and smile, showed that she really didn't care what the nobles thought. Tenchi marveled at how Ayeka had captured Sasami's likeness perfectly. Princess Sammy's facial expression was that same open-mouthed smile that Sasami often showed before bursting into laughter. The highlights in Princess Sammy's eyes seemed to contain a real spark of life, her hair looked like twin showers of water ... why, Ayeka had even remembered her sister's freckles! (Tenchi and Ryoko chuckled as Sasami grumbled about that last detail.)

In the Pretty Sammy books that Ayeka had made on Earth, everyone else in the Masaki household had been added to the stories, including Ayeka herself. Washu was Princess Sammy's royal tutor, Ryo-Oh-Ki was Pretty Sammy's sidekick ... Tenchi wondered if this was where Mihoshi had gotten the idea to cast everyone into her story of the ultra-energy matter robbery.

Tenchi also noticed how the Ayeka and Ryoko in the stories fought quite often in the earlier books that had been written on Earth, but seemed more and more like friends in the later ones. He smiled, but then frowned slightly when Sasami turned a page in the last book and revealed that the drawing had not been painted yet. There wasn't any text on this page, either. The sketch showed Sammy surrounded by monsters, with Ryo-Oh-Ki nowhere in sight. No Ryo-Oh-Ki meant no magical baton for Sammy to change into the magical girl.

"Ayeka never got to finish this one," said Sasami, "so I never found out what happened to Sammy."

"So that's what Mihoshi was doing," said Tenchi, looking at the blonde detective's smudgy crayon doodles, "She was trying to continue the story." Tenchi smiled at how sweet Mihoshi could be.

"Ayeka did another painting," said Sasami, rummaging through another of the log-like storage units, "It's in here someplace..."

As Sasami searched for it, a beautiful wooden flute fell out of the storage unit. A tiny velvet bag was attached to it. "Oh, that's Ayeka's flute," Sasami explained, noticing the admiring eyes of Tenchi and Ryo-Oh-Ki (still functioning as Ryoko's eyes), "Big brother Yosho gave it to her as a gift."

Sasami stopped her search to face Tenchi and the others as she talked. "When he left Jurai," she continued, "Ayeka said that she would never play the flute again until she found him."

"I never knew that Ayeka played the flute," said Tenchi.

"Me neither," said Ryoko, and Ryo-Oh-Ki miya-ed in agreement.

Sasami's shoulders slumped slightly, "That's because even when we found him, she never played it again."

Silence followed, and Sasami suddenly became busy looking for the painting again. "Here it is!" she finally said, pulling a rolled up paper from the storage unit. She began to unroll it. "It's a picture of Ayeka at the royal court on Jurai. Our parents and Auntie Funaho aren't in it, though."

Tenchi gazed at the painting, and wondered what felt ... wrong about it. It was as well-drawn and vividly painted as Ayeka's other works, but somehow it seemed to have less life in it than the Pretty Sammy illustrations. After a moment, he realized what was bothering him. Ayeka and the other people in the picture all looked rather stiff. That was why the picture seemed less alive.

Tenchi took a closer look at the flower Ayeka was holding in the painting. It was reddish-purple, just like her eyes. Wait a minute ... it was just like those flowers that Ryoko had left at the spot where Ayeka's body had been found. "That flower..." said Tenchi, pointing at it, "What does it mean?"

"That's a Royal Teardrop," Ryoko replied.

"Hey, you're right!" said Sasami, looking puzzled, "Why did Ayeka draw that? It's a flower used for sad occasions."

"What's used for happy occasions?" asked Tenchi.

He hadn't really expected an answer, but Ryoko said "Startica Bells."

"Yeah, like these," said Sasami. She handed one of the Pretty Sammy books to Tenchi. It was open to a picture of Pretty Sammy smiling and holding her fingers in a V-for-victory sign. She had two pink flowers in her hair, one at the base of each ponytail.

Tenchi took another look at the painting of Jurai's royal court. Ayeka, standing stiffly with all those nobles, holding a Royal Teardrop. Then there was the picture of Pretty Sammy, a girl in a dress that no Juraian princess should be caught dead wearing (Heck, Ayeka's UNDERWEAR looked more respectable than that dress!), but smiling and wearing flowers that symbolized joy.

"Oh, Ayeka..." Tenchi whispered sadly.

---

The sun was beginning to set. Katsuhito wandered aimlessly through the forest, having just left Funaho's clearing. Someone had placed a small heap of Royal Teardrops at the spot where Ayeka had been found. He sighed as his thoughts inevitably drifted to something that had happened over 700 years ago, back on Jurai.

Ayeka, a small girl back then, had made two wreaths out of berries and leaves. She had placed one upon her head, and given the other one to him, to pretend that they were already married and had become the new rulers of Jurai. His heart had sunk at that, for he had felt that he could not bring himself to tell anyone that he had no intention of staying on Jurai, let alone becoming emperor. Certainly he was not going to tell that to a little girl. In complete innocence, Ayeka had offered him a Royal Teardrop, the flower that Juraians used for sad occasions. It had reminded him of the unhappiness that he was sure would fill his life if he stayed on the planet...

Katsuhito sighed again, picturing the heap of flowers that had been left near Funaho. The flowers were the same color as his eyes, as well as Ayeka's. He remembered how hurt and betrayed her eyes had looked when she had discovered that he had been hiding his true identity as Yosho.

Shaking his head sadly, Katsuhito wondered at what he should have done differently. He had kept secrets from her up until the end...

His thoughts wandered again, this time to his late wife, and his daughter, who had died when Tenchi had still been very young. Could it be... could it be that he had now outlived his sister, as well? Katsuhito had always been quite content to spend much of his time in solitude, but he suddenly felt very lonely.

"Miya!" Ryo-Oh-Ki's voice called out.

Katsuhito turned to see the little cabbit bounding towards him. She appeared to be coming from the direction of Funaho's clearing, which he had just left. Seeing that she had been noticed, Ryo-Oh-Ki used one of her ears to gesture back towards the holy tree's place.

The cabbit turned around and began to bound back where she had come from, then paused and looked back at him. "Miya!" she called.

Taking the hint, the priest began to follow the cabbit back to Funaho. Once they had reached the clearing, his eyes came to rest on the heap of Royal Teardrops ... but what was this? The flowers were no longer reddish-purple, they were pink, like ... like Startica Bells, the Juraian flowers used for joyous occasions! How could such a thing be?

His answer came a moment later, when, upon walking closer to the flowers, he saw that the pink petals were folding and unfolding, without the aid of any breeze. Butterflies. The Royal Teardrops were all covered with pink butterflies. On some tacit agreement between the delicate creatures, they all took to the air at once, swirling around and around in the air in an intricate dance.

"Yes, I see..." a voice said behind Katsuhito. He turned around and looked at Sasami, who appeared to be studying the butterflies' movements very carefully. Her eyes took in the sight of them, and she had an intense look on her face as if she were straining to hear something. A few minutes later, the triangles on her forehead began to glow with a silvery light. Once this light appeared, the butterflies flew directly towards Sasami, surrounding her in their continuing dance.

The butterflies then flew out of the clearing and out of sight, and Sasami's expression became serious again. "Tsunami just told me," she said softly, "I know what to do with that tree branch now..."

---

The pain was real. She could not scream, and she could not shed any tears, for she had no physical body at the moment. Even still, she could actually feel the darkness clawing at her. She tried to remain focused, tried to concentrate on the dim golden light ahead of her ... but the pain was becoming unbearable.

_Tsunami,_ she told herself, _Remember Tsunami._ She forced herself to ignore the pain and remember Tsunami's gentle, sad face asking for her help. She thought of the moment when Tsunami embraced her and said that she believed in her. She would not let the goddess down. She would not let Sasami down. She would not let her family down.

Tsunami had placed herself at great risk by using a considerable amount of power to clear the way for her. She knew that the task had been more difficult than the goddess had anticipated ... and despite Tsunami's efforts, most of the dark power had returned by the time her journey began.

The light that marked her destination seemed no closer than before. She felt as if she had been trying to reach it for an eternity. Even though it did not seem possible, the pain intensified. Her inner voice screamed, _I will NOT give in!_

Something in her spirit was ignited, and just as the pain crested, it abruptly vanished. Suddenly, instead of being surrounded by darkness, she found herself in a great expanse of white light, much like the place she was in before the journey began. She saw an image of Sasami floating there.

"I'm proud of you," the image of Sasami said, "I will always be proud of you."

"I believe in you," said an image of Tsunami, "I will always believe in you."

The image of Tsunami became slightly altered, until she looked like Misaki. "I love you," the image said, "I will always love you..."

She could almost feel Misaki kissing her palms, and could imagine her mother's voice saying, "Now you're holding some of Mommy's love, so you don't have to be scared of anything."

But how could she feel her palms, unless ... ?

Her eyes flew open, and she coughed as she tried to become accustomed to breathing again. Her head and chest hurt, but she forced herself to sit up and look at her new surroundings. She took a deep breath and stood, swaying slightly as she tried to get reacquainted with her body. Taking several more deep breaths, she concentrated until a silvery aura formed around her. With the silver light's arrival came the departure of the pain and discomfort.

"Tokimi," she whispered, "I am coming for you..."

---

Ryoko sat on the most comfortable chair in Washu's lab, waiting patiently. Tenchi sat across from her, holding her hand.

"Okay, you two," said Washu, walking towards them, "Sasami explained all of Tsunami's instructions about this branch." She held up the gray tree branch that had been found with Ayeka's body. "Sasami gave me the procedure ... apparently, it can be used to restore Ryoko's eyesight."

"Ayeka ... Ayeka did this for me?" Ryoko asked softly.

"According to Sasami," said Washu, "Ayeka did this for everyone."

The lab became silent except for the hum of Washu's machinery. There was no one else in the lab besides the three of them, unless one counted the creatures that swam in the tanks or nested in the trees. Even though Kiyone was usually Washu's lab assistant, Washu had insisted that the detective stay in the room that she shared with Mihoshi, to make sure that the blonde got the sleep she needed. Sasami, meanwhile, had decided to watch the sunset with Mayuka and Ryo-Oh-Ki.

"First of all," said Washu, "We have to remove Ryoko's bandage and clean up whatever mess is under there ... Tenchi, why don't you do that while I prepare everything else?"

"Sure," said Tenchi, as the redheaded scientist wandered to another part of the lab.

Tenchi carefully removed the bandage wrapped around Ryoko's eyes, and saw that her eyelids were covered in some sort of crusty substance. Ryoko's face twitched. "I can't move my eyelids," she giggled.

"I'll clean that up," Tenchi murmured. He picked up a wet washcloth that Washu had left for him, and began to gently dab at Ryoko's face. Cleaning the crust off proved to be difficult, since it refused to come off easily, and yet Tenchi did not want to rub too hard and hurt Ryoko.

Once Tenchi had finished, he realized that there was water trickling down Ryoko's face and dribbling past her chin and sliding down her neck, or dripping onto her clothes. Ryoko had remained silent the whole time, so that he hadn't even noticed, since he had been so occupied with his cleaning task. He quickly grabbed a small towel and began to wipe the water away, but Ryoko gently grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Leave it for a moment," she said, "It feels like ... it feels I'm like crying..."

"Ryoko?"

"When my body rejected the prosthetic eyes Mom made for me," Ryoko explained, "It seems that I lost the ability to cry after that. So I just want to be able to feel tears again. Isn't that funny? I never liked to be seen crying before, but now..." She shook her head and laughed softly. She experimentally opened her eyelids, revealing the empty eye sockets they had been covering.

Tenchi froze and stared at Ryoko's face.

"Tenchi," Ryoko said, "You don't have to look if you don't want to."

He was about to say that it didn't bother him, when Ryoko suddenly added, "I could hear you hold your breath."

"Ryoko..." Tenchi began, but Ryoko gently placed a finger on his lips.

"Don't worry about me, and don't you dare blame yourself," she said softly, "Even if this procedure doesn't work, I can get by. There's more than one way I can see you."

Ryoko cupped his face in both of her hands, her thumbs resting on his cheekbones. She slowly moved her hands down his face, until the heels of her hands met at his chin. Removing one of her hands, she ran her fingers through Tenchi's hair, then stroked the back of his neck. She wrapped his little ponytail around her one of her fingers, then released it. But she didn't release Tenchi. She placed both her arms around him, pulling him closer to her. Ryoko kissed him lightly on the forehead, then gave him a longer kiss on the lips.

At first, Tenchi had felt that he didn't deserve this attention from Ryoko. He had felt his shadows tightening around him ... but then, they had begun to disappear under Ryoko's gentle touch. She was not only seeing him without sight, but saying "I love you" without words, and healing him without anything more than her devotion. It was a devotion that said, "I have good reason to love you. Do not ever doubt that". When their lips finally parted, Tenchi suddenly closed his eyes and took Ryoko's face in his hands. "My turn?" he whispered shyly.

He felt Ryoko's head move in a small nod. With one hand, Tenchi caressed the side of Ryoko's face. His other hand explored her hair, which was surprisingly soft for its spiky appearance. He then somewhat clumsily began to feel at the rest of Ryoko's face, gently stroking her soft eyelids. He grimaced slightly at his clumsiness, but then somehow he just knew that Ryoko forgave him, and more than that, she didn't care if his fingers could not have a touch as delicate as hers, she loved it anyway. In fact, she somehow loved it BECAUSE it was like that. Tenchi's hand suddenly felt wet, and he remembered the water there. Tenchi carefully wiped it away with his hands, then pulled Ryoko closer to him for a kiss, this one lasting much longer than the one before.

---

Washu watched them silently. She hadn't intended to spy on them, but she had accidentally gotten a splinter from the tree branch stuck in her palm, and had sat down to try to pull it out. She had finally managed to free the troublesome sliver of wood, and had glanced up in time to see them kissing. Washu had been extremely annoyed at the splinter (after all, she had already cut her finger on a razor a few days before), but any annoyance had vanished once she saw the couple.

"And I thought I was the one noted for peeping in this family," a voice whispered from behind Washu.

The little scientist turned and looked at Nobuyuki. "What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"Just came to check on how things were going," he whispered back. He gestured towards Tenchi and Ryoko, who were now holding hands and speaking softly to each other. "I think they'll be fine if we leave them alone for a bit, don't you?"

Washu nodded and set the branch down on a table. The two of them quietly walked off towards another part of the lab. Settling down in front of the tree Ryu-Oh, which was nearly fully-grown now, Washu and Nobuyuki sat in silence for a few moments. Washu's thoughts wandered to every kind of tree she had ever known (and that was a great many), and she frowned when she decided that none of them could have produced the branch that Ayeka had left behind. Where could the princess have gotten it? Certainly it was not from a tree that grew anywhere in Japan.

Washu's thoughts were interrupted when Nobuyuki suddenly said softly, "Thank goodness for young love, eh?"

"Ryoko's older than you are, young man," Washu replied, winking to show that she understood what Nobuyuki meant. She had felt it, too. Seeing Ryoko with Tenchi like that reminded her of all the happy times she had enjoyed with her husband. Although she was still saddened that she had lost him forever, the knowledge that her daughter had been able to find love ... well, it filled her with a kind of optimism that she had not felt for over 20,000 years.

Washu took a small sphere out of her hair, one that she had not shown to anyone, not even her daughter. She handed it to Nobuyuki. "Shake it," she said.

Nobuyuki did so, and the tiny sphere projected an image of Washu in her adult form, smiling and standing beside a man with curly blonde hair. In the man's arms was a small baby with the same curly blonde hair as the man, as well as eyes that were the same piercing green color as Washu's.

"Nobuo Mizutani, my husband," Washu said softly, "and Seikou, our son."

Nobuyuki nodded and reached into his pocket. He wordlessly handed her a slightly worn photograph. Washu gazed at the picture of a somewhat younger Nobuyuki, holding hands with a woman dressed in a lavender kimono. The two of them were standing in front of the cave, looking into each other's eyes and smiling. Strapped to the woman's back was an infant Tenchi, who seemed to be staring at an empty spot in front of the cave with great interest.

"Achika," Nobuyuki murmured softly.

Washu nodded. After a moment's silence, the redheaded scientist wracked her brain for something to say. "So ... who took the picture?" she finally asked. _Oh, great thing to say,_ she thought to herself, _You REALLY need to work on your people skills, dearie._ She frowned and scratched her hand, which was beginning to itch.

"Michiko," Nobuyuki said in response to Washu's question, "a friend of mine."

He sighed and fixed his eyes on the photograph that Washu still held in her hand. "She was the one who convinced me to propose to Achika," he continued, "I was ... afraid, but Michiko could tell that I loved her, and she told me not to wait forever ... because I didn't have forever."

"Whatever happened to Michiko?" Washu asked without thinking. _Now what kind of thing to say was that? That does it honey, you're getting out of the lab more often!_ She scratched at her hand again.

Nobuyuki didn't reply, and that was all the response that Washu needed. "I'm sorry," said Washu, "I shouldn't have asked."

Nobuyuki shook his head to show that he hadn't been offended. "It was only afterwards when I found out..." he whispered, "that she had been in love with me. She told me to propose to Achika, even though..."

Remaining silent this time, Washu put her small hand on Nobuyuki's shoulder.

"She was ... I guess she was my Ayeka," Nobuyuki finished softly.

Something made Washu and Nobuyuki look up at the same time. They saw Tenchi and Ryoko heading towards them, holding onto each other. Tenchi kept trying to lead Ryoko, while Ryoko kept trying to lead him to show that she could manage. This resulted in neither of them noticing a power cable on the floor, and they both tripped over it and ended up a heap on the floor. Ryoko teasingly gave Tenchi a light smack on the back of his head, and Tenchi laughed.

"I guess they're ready for us to try the procedure," Washu said, trying to hold back laughter, "But first..."

The little scientist made her transparent black computer materialize, and typed in a command. A floating tray appeared before her, with two small cups of sake resting on it. Washu handed one of the cups to Nobuyuki, then took the other one and raised it in a toast. "To young love," she said, smiling.

"And to those who make sacrifices to let others enjoy that young love," said Nobuyuki.

"To Michiko," Washu added.

"And to Ayeka," Nobuyuki finished.

The cups clinked together, and the proud parents watched their children pick themselves up off the floor and walk towards them, holding hands.

A pink butterfly emerged from somewhere in Ryu-Oh's leaves, and landed on Nobuyuki's photograph, which had been left on the floor. The tiny creature's antennae brushed the spot in front of the cave that the infant Tenchi was staring at. Neither Washu nor Nobuyuki noticed this, but something made them both laugh softly at the same time.

---

Much to Tenchi's relief, the procedure had turned out to be fairly simple: dripping some sap from the branch onto Ryoko's gem, and making Ryoko swallow a drop of the sap at the same time. After that, she had fallen into a deep sleep, and Tenchi had sat by the bed that Washu had set up for her.

Ryoko sat up about an hour later.

"How are you feeling?" Tenchi asked immediately.

The cyan-haired woman blinked, and Tenchi caught a glimpse of her new eyes. "Ryoko!" he exclaimed, "I think it worked! Can you see anything?"

Ryoko stopped blinking and turned to stare in Tenchi's direction. He was able to see that Ryoko's new eyes, while feline like her old ones, were not golden. They were silver.

"I ... I can't see a thing..." she said, and Tenchi's heart sank.

She suddenly stretched her hand out towards Tenchi, keeping it just a few inches from his shoulder. "But..." she said, a strange smile on her face, "I can tell that you got your shoulder bruised a few days ago!"

Tenchi blinked in surprise. "That's right!" he said, "When I was practicing with Grandpa..."

Ryoko moved her hand farther down, still not actually touching his body. "And..." she said, grinning, "I can tell that you didn't leave my bedside this whole time, even though you desperately needed to go to the..."

"Ryoko!" Tenchi squeaked, "How...?!"

Ryoko laughed and held her hand in front of his face. "My, my," she said between giggles, "You're blushing, aren't you?"

"Fascinating!" said Washu, who was standing a few feet away, "This is going to require some testing..." She broke off and absently scratched her hand.

Ryoko was still laughing at Tenchi's embarrassment. "Why don't you go relieve yourself?" she said, "I'm going to rest some more ... don't worry, I'll still be here!"

She fell back on the bed and fell asleep instantly. Washu chuckled as Tenchi ran for the bathroom before his bladder exploded.

---

Ryoko awoke several hours later. Tenchi was asleep by her bedside. She could actually sense his heartbeat without touching him. _This is going to take some getting used to!_ Ryoko thought to herself. Suddenly feeling the urge to check on Mayuka, she teleported out of the lab, into the baby's room.

Ryoko's timing was perfect: the infant had begun to cry just as she entered the room. "Oh ... it's okay, Noodles, I'm here." she said, taking the baby out of her crib.

Moving over to a chair by the crib, Ryoko sat down and gently rocked Mayuka in her arms. She began to sing her favorite song, the one about stars and happy dreams, when she felt herself being hit by a feeling of immense sadness.

_Why, Ayeka?_ she thought to herself, _You didn't have to do this for me..._

She stopped singing and sighed, even as Mayuka continued to cry. Taking a deep breath, she tried to resume singing, but her voice kept shaking. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks, but the realization that she could cry again did little to improve her singing.

"Oh come now, Miss Ryoko, I know you can do better than that!" a familiar voice said. Ryoko jerked her head up and saw a smirking Ayeka standing in front of her, dressed in a white robe. She could SEE her! Ryoko glanced down and saw that she could see herself, as well as Mayuka, but nothing else, not even the chair she was sitting on.

"Ayeka?" said Ryoko.

Ayeka put her hands on her hips. "Are you going to let the baby just cry like that, Miss Ryoko? Really, you can be so irresponsible!" she said in mock-anger. The purple-haired woman then winked at her.

Ryoko was completely flabbergasted. Ayeka looked at her expectantly, and began to tap her foot. Finally, Ryoko tried to resume singing to Mayuka, but her voice was still weak and shaky.

Ayeka rolled her eyes, but there was a mischievous smile on her face. "Oh dear," she said, "It seems that, once again, it is up to me to do the job properly."

Ayeka began to sing. Her singing voice never had been as rich or as strong as Ryoko's, but nevertheless it successfully managed to weave the images of stars and happy dreams. Ryoko simply stared at her. Mayuka stopped crying and blinked her little eyes.

Ayeka kept singing.

Stars.

Ryoko could see a night sky in her mind's eye. She remembered one night, about a year ago, when she had been sitting on the rooftop, and Tenchi had come to apologize to her ... she saw, earlier that same night, when she had been hiding by Funaho, and Ayeka had come to share her feelings with her...

It had been a small sign of the friendship they had, the friendship that they had scarcely ever admitted to. In fact, when Ayeka had confessed her fears, Ryoko had offered reassurance, but disguised it as sarcasm. And there it was. Ayeka's small, soft voice singing ... it was like their friendship had been. Weak at first ... small, subtle ... a trembling, delicate thing...

Ayeka's voice reached a crescendo, and Ryoko longed to hear her voice go higher, but she knew that the princess did not have that kind of vocal range. It was the same longing that she felt, now more than ever, about their friendship. Ayeka had made a great sacrifice for her ... but she couldn't do anything in return. How she wished she had told her what that friendship had meant to her, before it had been too late!

Ryoko began to sing, her voice rich and unwavering. This was how she saw that friendship now: stronger, more important to her than ever before. Her voice reached a crescendo and joined with Ayeka's. Yes, that was how she wanted their relationship to be! It had grown, and it should keep growing! Her powerful voice sang about stars and happy dreams, but her mind was picturing something else ... her strong arms, grabbing Ayeka and taking her out of danger during the fight with Kagato...

Ayeka attempted another crescendo, and her gentle voice trembled slightly, but did not stop. Ryoko remembered the princess' small form supporting her, holding her gently but firmly as Tenchi fought with Yuzuha...

Their voices joined in perfect harmony, and the song seemed so alive and powerful that Ryoko felt that she could reach out and touch the melody. Ryoko's voice had never been so strong before, but then, never before had she had Ayeka's voice supporting hers, working some sort of wondrous magic that they could only accomplish together.

Happy dreams.

Mayuka sighed and fell asleep, the song seemingly becoming a blanket of warmth and security for her. Ryoko reached out with her hand, as if to touch that blanket, and Ayeka's hand suddenly grasped Ryoko's, squeezing it gently as they both stopped singing.

Tears streamed out of Ryoko's eyes again. "Why?" she sobbed, "Damn it, Ayeka! Why?"

Ryoko suddenly realized that Ayeka was crying, too. Wordlessly, the Juraian woman took Ryoko's hand and placed one of the fingers on the flow of tears that came forth from one of her reddish-purple eyes.

_Listen to me,_ Ryoko heard Ayeka's voice say in her mind, _Listen to me now, beyond the realm of voices, for water plays it own songs, for those who know how to listen. You do not have to say a word, and yet I know of your grief, because of your tears. This pure, simple language, I will share with you. I will teach it to you, as She who sang water's first song taught it to me..._

Ayeka's tears began to slide down Ryoko's finger, but the cyan-haired woman made no move to wipe them away.

_It is a complex melody that water has,_ Ayeka's unspoken voice continued, _After all, one can shed tears of joy as well as sadness. Such is the nature of water. It is just as capable of taking away life as it is of sustaining it. Miss Ryoko, my friend, you know much about the power of water already. The mighty tidal wave that smashes stone into sand ... that was you once. That is the you that I know you are still capable of being, if anyone threatens those that you love. But, dearest Miss Ryoko, also know that there are other ways to win a battle. Remember, always, the gentle drop of water that can still create many ripples in a pool. Your love for Lord Tenchi and Mayuka and the others has taught you something of this other side of water. This gift that you were recently given..._

(Here Ayeka gestured towards Ryoko's new eyes to show what she meant)

...this gift is to help you discover that other side, that gentle, nurturing side which Kagato tried to deny existed in you. Learn how to use it, Miss Ryoko. Learn how to use both sides of your nature, and you will be better able to protect that which is most precious to you. Learn the many songs of water, my friend, and you will be more human than Kagato ever thought you could be. Such is the nature of water..._

And so, without using her ears, Ryoko listened.

---

Ryoko could feel someone gently shaking her. "Ayeka?" she murmured sleepily.

"Ryoko, it's me," said Tenchi's voice from somewhere in the darkness.

"Mayuka..." Ryoko said, realizing that she was no longer holding the baby.

"It's okay, I put her back in her crib," said Tenchi, "When I woke up and you weren't in the lab, I came upstairs and ... I heard your singing. Ryoko, I don't think I've ever heard you sing that song so beautifully before! I didn't want to disturb you until you were done, but when I came in, I found that you had fallen asleep..."

"Where's Ayeka?" said Ryoko.

"What? Ryoko, are you okay?" said Tenchi, his voice full of concern.

Finally shaking the last bit of grogginess away, Ryoko stood. "Can I try something?" she asked suddenly.

"Um ... okay..." said Tenchi. "What is it?"

Ryoko stretched her hand out and held it a few inches from Tenchi's shoulder, the one that had been bruised. She imagined the injury as a block of ice, and then pictured a warm current flowing from her hand, melting the ice into water. Water...

Ryoko could sense Tenchi poking at his shoulder. "It's ... better..." he said, astounded, "Ryoko, what did you do?"

"Ayeka..." Ryoko said, smiling, "she's alive."

Tenchi sputtered something completely incomprehensible, and Ryoko laughed. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then sank back into her chair and fell asleep again.

---

Sasami slipped silently out of the house. Everyone was asleep, and she didn't want anyone to awaken and see her go outside. Just in case someone happened to look out a window and spot her, she kept her back straight and walked with a spring in her step. _That's it ... strong ... cheerful..._

Once she had reached Funaho, she dropped the entire pretense that she had been maintaining all day, and her shoulders slumped and her feet began to drag. Sighing, she watched the fireflies flit about for awhile, but they failed to lighten her mood like they usually did.

"Tsunami!" she called out, "Tsunami, you can come out now!"

There was a shimmering in the air, and the glowing white figure of Tsunami materialized. The goddess still appeared a bit weak from helping Ayeka to reach the ... other side, and she seemed somewhat nervous, as if afraid of facing Sasami.

"I don't know why you didn't tell me what you were planning with Ayeka," Sasami said, her voice low and unusually harsh, "I don't know why you didn't tell me right away!"

Tsunami actually took a step backward.

"You said you loved me, Tsunami!" Sasami almost screamed, "Is this how you show that? By keeping secrets from me? By making everyone think that Ayeka is dead? What else are you planning to do, huh? What next? You told me that this was Ayeka's choice ... I want to believe you, but how can I?"

Sasami couldn't recognize herself as she said this, it was so unlike her ... and yet she could not stop. All the doubts she had about Tsunami's motives over the past 700 or so years, all the fears about what would happen once the goddess merged with her ... these had mostly been kept bottled up inside, and now they were pouring out with a fire that frightened her, and yet she could not stop.

Tsunami took it all, remaining silent, not saying a single word to defend herself. It was only when Sasami subsided that the goddess said softly, "I'm so sorry, Sasami!" Tsunami sank to her knees and stared at the ground. Sasami had never seen her looking so sad and ... lost.

"I ... I didn't tell you because I didn't want to frighten you," Tsunami continued, "Our ... your family was so much like what I wished mine had been. I loved my older sisters so much, but I ... I knew that things were falling apart, that they would never be the same again! W-when ... when one of my sisters left, it was one of the most painful and frightening things that ever happened to me. I was so ... afraid ... and I didn't want you to worry about something like that!"

It took a few moments before Tsunami could finish. "I thought that I would protect you for as long as possible ... but what I did was wrong. I'm sorry, Sasami..."

"I ... I understand now," said Sasami, her voice scarcely above a whisper. She ran to the goddess and threw her arms around her. Tsunami looked at Sasami questioningly.

"You created me when the real Sasami died," said Sasami, "because you didn't want Ayeka to be without a sister. You DO care about Ayeka. I shouldn't have doubted you..."

Tsunami looked stricken for a moment, then began to sob uncontrollably, her tears splashing into Sasami's hair as she hugged the young princess close to her. Bewildered, Sasami did the only thing she could: she hugged Tsunami back and cried with her. Pressed so close to the goddess, Sasami could feel herself surrounded by Tsunami's familiar scent, which was very much like a mixture of Royal Teardrops and Startica Bells. Tsunami's tears began to trickle down Sasami's face and mingle with her own tears.

_When we assimilate,_ Sasami thought to herself, _We really will cry the same tears..._ It was a thought that brought both fear and comfort at the same time. Such was the nature of water.

"Nothing like a good cry," Tsunami murmured after a while.

"Good cry?" said Sasami, a mischievous grin spreading across her features, "That was nothing like a good cry! Remember when Mihoshi helped me to peel onions for dinner, at the exact same time that she was trying to watch a soap opera on TV? Now THAT combo makes for a good cry!"

Tsunami gave a weak smile in response.

Sasami pulled away from the goddess and pouted cutely. "Tsunami, if you don't smile better than that, I'll be very mad at you!"

This time Tsunami could not help but laugh.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Sasami, throwing her arms around Tsunami again, "Friends, right?"

"Yeah," said Tsunami, ruffling Sasami's hair.

"No more secrets?" Sasami said seriously, "You'll answer my next question?"

The goddess nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, Ayeka and Ryoko are being tested ... but what about Tenchi?"

Tsunami sighed. "Ayeka and Ryoko have been facing their demons in order to grow ... in strength as well as in spirit. Tenchi is ... different. Until he learns to overcome the guilt and self-loathing that has lingered within him over the years, there is little I can do for him. When he understands that he really is worthy of Ryoko's love ... of all of our love, then he will be ready. Until then..." she shook her head sadly.

The goddess and the princess sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, until Sasami said softly, "I got the branch, like you told me to. Let's get started, okay?"

Standing, Sasami reached into her robe and pulled out the gray branch that Ayeka had obtained. "It wasn't hard ... I just told Washu that I wanted something to remember Ayeka." Next, Sasami pulled Tenchiken out of her robe. "This was a bit harder ... but luckily, Tenchi is a sound sleeper."

Tsunami began to instruct Sasami, and the young princess bit the tip of her tongue in concentration as she set the branch on the ground and gripped Tenchiken. She focused on the mental pathways that Tsunami guided her down ... until a tiny blade, like that of a pocketknife, sprang from the Juraian key. Kneeling in front of the branch, Sasami looked in fascination as thin beams of light shot out of the tree Funaho, tracing patterns on the branch for her to cut along.

Moving very slowly and carefully, Sasami carved the tree branch, until she had created a sword hilt much like Tenchiken, but with different designs decorating it. Extinguishing Tenchiken's blade, Sasami smeared some of the branch's sap along the designs, then sat back and waited.

Tsunami knelt in front of Sasami, so that the newly carved sword hilt was between them. The two circular markings on the goddess' forehead began to glow with a golden light, and the emblem on Sasami's forehead began to give off a strange silver light in response. Sasami held her hand over the gray piece of wood, and kept it there until the wood had become silver, and the light from her forehead became the same golden as Tsunami's. The golden light from both foreheads finally went out, and Sasami excitedly tried to touch the sword, but let out a shriek at the burning sensation she felt.

"Oh, no! You can't hold it!" Tsunami said quickly, rubbing Sasami's hand until the pain was gone, "Go get Mayuka."

Sasami nodded, then stood and left the clearing. Eventually, she returned with the infant in her arms. Mayuka cooed and looked at Tsunami curiously.

"Use Mayuka's hands to hold the sword," said Tsunami.

Kneeling, Sasami carefully placed her hands over Mayuka's and picked up the sword, making sure that only Mayuka's skin contacted the hilt, and not her own.

"Now, concentrate..." said Tsunami.

Sasami gritted her teeth until she had managed to will a blade into existence. Not a small, knifelike blade, like she had with Tenchiken, but the blade of a full-length sword. It was a deep reddish-purple color, much like a Royal Teardrop ... or Ayeka's eyes. The sword's silvery hilt glinted, looking like a moonbeam in Mayuka's hands.

It was beautiful. Sasami did not like weapons very much, but she had to admit that it was beautiful. "Is it another Tenchiken?" she asked.

Tsunami gazed at the sword, it's reddish-purple light reflecting gently off her glowing form. "This is the key that will determine much in the future," she said softly, "This is Ayekaken."

"Ayekaken," Sasami whispered reverently.

---

"Have you seen Ryoko?" Tenchi asked Sasami in the kitchen the next morning.

Sasami glanced up from the porridge she had been stirring. "No, I haven't," she said, "Is something wrong, Tenchi?"

"Well, she said something last night that I was hoping she would explain to me now..." Tenchi broke off when Ryoko suddenly teleported into the room.

"Good morning," Ryoko said quickly, "Could you two please get everyone else and meet me in Mom's lab?"

"Huh?" said Tenchi.

"Great, thanks!" said Ryoko, her sightless silver eyes gleaming with an almost mischievous shine. She teleported out of the kitchen before Tenchi or Sasami could say a word.

"I'll go get everyone," said Tenchi, shrugging his shoulders as he left the room.

"Not a week goes by when I don't have to re-heat breakfast at least once," Sasami said, pouting cutely. From the air came the sound of Tsunami's soft laughter. Sasami winked at her invisible friend and giggled.

---

Sasami eventually went into the lab and found that everyone was there, even Azaka and Kamidake.

"What's this all about?" she overheard Nobuyuki saying. The others began to ask similar questions. Ryoko and Washu stood there wordlessly, waiting until everyone quieted down.

"Okay everyone, I have some news," said Ryoko, "I can't really explain this, but Ayeka is alive, and she's been talking to me. Psychically." The cyan-haired woman waited for everyone to start shouting out a bunch of questions, which they did. She once again remained silent until everyone quieted down.

"She had some stuff that she wanted to tell all of you, so she told it to me and had me transfer it to Ryo-Oh-Ki's memory."

Ryoko and Washu stepped aside to reveal Ryo-Oh-Ki sitting in a chair with numerous devices attached to it. Sasami recognized it as the machine that Washu used to check Ryo-Oh-Ki's memory when the Masu had escaped.

"With this," said Washu, "we'll get a replay of the message that Ayeka gave to Ryoko. Ready, Ryo-Oh-Ki?"

The little cabbit miya-ed an affirmative.

Washu activated the machine, and an image of a super-deformed Ayeka appeared on a large screen on the wall.

"Um," said Washu, "Well, I didn't say that it would be a LIFELIKE replay."

Much forehead-slapping, facefaulting, and sweatdropping ensued.

Once everyone had recovered, Washu said, "Play!" and the little super-deformed Ayeka began to speak.

"Hello to you all," she said, "I must begin by apologizing for causing all of you to worry about me. Let me assure you that I am fine, and that what I am about to do, I am doing by choice."

Here Ayeka paused and took a deep breath. "I ... won't be coming back for a while," she finally said, "Tsunami has given me a purpose that I have longed to have for a long time ... only for many years I had never admitted to myself that I had wanted such a thing. I feel that I am only beginning to understand myself, even as I am about to become ... a slightly different me. I am about to start off on a dangerous journey, but please do not worry about me, for I am starting a new life, and nothing worth having is easy to obtain."

Sasami, who had already known about some of this, could feel tears forming in her eyes, and yet there was a proud smile on her face at the same time.

"I would like to say something to each of you," Ayeka continued, "Yosho ... you were right about Jurai's royal life. I knew it all along, although I denied it for quite some time. I hope that my new life will be as fulfilling as yours has been. Mr. Masaki, I thank you for your hospitality, and for raising Lord Tenchi so well."

Nobuyuki smiled weakly, and Kiyone patted him on the shoulder.

"Ms... Little Washu, I thank you for helping to save my Ryu-Oh, and I ask that you please take care of my ship-tree for a little longer. I hope that you and your daughter enjoy many happy times together. Azaka, Kamidake, I thank you for your many years of loyal service, and I ask you to be Mayuka's protectors from now on."

"Yes, ma'am!" the two guardians said, even though the Ayeka they were replying to was only a recording.

"Kiyone, I am glad to have known you," Ayeka went on, "The conversations I had with you in the garden will always be among my most treasured memories. Now, please listen carefully ... one day, you will remember certain words, and you must make sure that you pass them on to Mihoshi."

Kiyone's eyes watered, and then she frowned in confusion at Ayeka's final words to her. From the looks on everyone else's faces, it was apparent that no one knew what the princess was talking about.

"Mihoshi," said Ayeka, "Your cheerfulness and selflessness will always be an important part of the Masaki home. I know for a fact that Detective Yuri Mizutani would be proud of you."

At the name "Mizutani", Washu let out a small gasp, and exchanged looks with Nobuyuki, who also appeared surprised. Mihoshi simply smiled and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Ryo-Oh-Ki, I will always be grateful to you for the flower you gave me on the day of your hatching. You helped to make me feel like a welcome part of this family." Ayeka smiled, "Mayuka ... wave bye-bye!" Here Ayeka wiggled her fingers in farewell.

Mayuka cooed and wiggled her fingers in response, eliciting soft laughter from everyone else.

"Sasami," said Ayeka, "I love you very much. I know that this must be difficult for you ... thank you for understanding. Tsunami tells me that you said that you were proud of me. Thank you, dear sister. That means a great deal to me."

Sasami smiled, even as the tears that had formed in her eyes began to slide down her cheeks.

"Lord Tenchi ... thank you." Ayeka said softly, "Thank you for your kindness, for your friendship, for ... many things. It ... it is to you that I shall have the most difficulty saying goodbye. I ... I loved you, and I still do ... but please do not have any regrets, Lord Tenchi. You have changed my life, and started me in a new direction. Take good care of Miss Ryoko and little Mayuka. Lord Tenchi ... many years ago, my brother gave me a flute as a gift. There is something in the bag attached to the flute. L-lord Tenchi, I want you to have it. When you ... when you feel that the time is right, I ... I ... I want you to give it to Miss Ryoko. Be happy, Lord Tenchi..."

Everyone was very silent as Ayeka nearly lost her composure, but her royal training finally snapped into place. She quickly wiped her eyes and looked up. "The rest of this message is for my parents and Aunt Funaho. I ask for someone to please bring Ryo-Oh-Ki to Jurai so that they may hear it. Goodbye, my friends ... my family. Good luck in all that you do."

"Stop," Washu said softly, and the image disappeared from the screen. There was an awkward silence as everyone just stood there, wiping at his or her eyes, or holding someone nearby.

Finally, Sasami said quietly, "Tenchi, the flute is on Ayeka's futon. Go ahead."

Tenchi stood there uncertainly for a moment, until Ryoko said, "It's okay, Tenchi."

He turned and walked away slowly. Eventually, everyone began to leave the lab, lost in his or her own thoughts, except for Washu, who sat down and took a small sphere out of her hair. She shook it and looked at the old family portrait that it projected.

---

Tenchi ran his hand along the wooden flute, admiring the intricate designs that some skilled artist had carved into it. The little purple bag that hung from the flute swayed as Tenchi did this. Slowly, he undid the gold ribbon that held the velvet bag closed, and shook its contents into his outstretched palm.

Into his hand fell a ring, seemingly made out of thin gold and silver vines braided together. A platinum Startica Bell adorned the ring, and in the center of the flower was a diamond that sparkled like a dewdrop.

"Oh dear God, no..." Tenchi whispered when he realized what Ayeka was giving him.

"It's the engagement ring I gave Ayeka, 700 years ago," Katsuhito's voice said from the doorway, confirming Tenchi's suspicions.

"I ... I c-can't accept this...' Tenchi stammered, overwhelmed.

"Ayeka wishes for you to have it..." Katsuhito said softly, "I want you to have it as well."

Tenchi stared at the ring in his hand, his mouth still hanging open. Once again, he remembered when Ayeka had given Tenchiken back to him, asking him to protect her. Once again, he saw the trusting look in her eyes, the confidence she had that he would do the right thing.

"I ... I think I'll go to my room for a bit," Tenchi said quickly as he walked past his grandfather and out into the hall.

It was only when Tenchi was gone that Katsuhito whispered, "Perhaps one day you will honor what that ring symbolizes ... better than I did."

---

It was evening. Kiyone was sitting at Nobuyuki's computer, looking at the new Winamp skins on her favorite website, when Mihoshi entered the room and exclaimed, "Come on, Kiyone! Sasami's going to play a song for us!"

Kiyone smiled and soon followed her partner downstairs. In the living room, she saw Tenchi and Ryoko sitting side by side, holding hands. Washu was standing near them, feeding Mayuka. Nobuyuki and Katsuhito sat on another couch, drinking tea. Ryo-Oh-Ki was in her toddler form, helping Sasami to push a chair into an out-of-the-way corner of the room.

"Okay, we're here!" Mihoshi said cheerfully, sitting down. Kiyone sat next to her.

"All set, Washu!" said Sasami, smiling excitedly.

Washu's transparent black computer materialized in the air, and the redheaded scientist tapped a few keys. A black transparent piano appeared in the part of the living room where Sasami and Ryo-Oh-Ki had cleared away most of the furniture. Sasami giggled and sat on a floating cushion in front of the instrument.

"This week's Music Night is dedicated to Ayeka," said Sasami, "who would be really mad at us if we gave up Music Night just for her sake!"

"How mad would she be?" everyone chorused.

"Probably THIS mad," said Sasami, beginning to play 'Angry AleeN Invasion'.

Everyone laughed and clapped in time to the music, singing wherever they remembered the words. (Most of the time, there was a lot of "la-la-la-ing".)

"But since we're not skipping Music Night, she's probably really happy," Sasami said, a thoughtful look on her face.

"How happy is she?" everyone chorused.

"Probably THIS happy," Sasami giggled, playing 'Foxanime and Frigidheat's Great Escape from Planet Capshaw'.

Fortunately, everyone knew the refrain to this song, and they all joined in at that part, "Hell ya, more Earl Grey Tea!/That's the stuff for me/Let's drink to being free!".

"And finally," Sasami said solemnly, "On this Music Night, we want to show Ayeka that we'll never, ever forget her." And so, Sasami played 'Lost Magi`s Noble Journey' and there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

When the song was done, Sasami stood, and the piano vanished. "Good journey, Ayeka," Sasami whispered.

"Good journey, Ayeka," everyone repeated. The room became silent, but there still seemed to be a trace of music and hope in the air.

---

Sasami opened her closet and lifted the lid of the shoebox near her winter clothes, to make sure that Ayekaken was still in there. She had been thinking during the day that she really needed to find a better hiding place, but that would have to wait until the next day, since she couldn't move the sword without Mayuka. Shutting the closet, Sasami went over to her futon and lay down. She closed her eyes...

Sasami was surrounded by monsters. Where was Ryo-Oh-Ki? Without him, she couldn't get the magical baton to become Pretty Sammy!

Magical baton?

Pretty Sammy?

Sasami realized that she must be dreaming of the Pretty Sammy story that Ayeka had never completed. As if summoned by that thought, Ayeka suddenly appeared in front of Sasami, brandishing the newly created sword, Ayekaken. The monsters fled from the blade's reddish-purple light, and Ayeka extinguished the blade, turned towards Sasami, and smiled. Ayeka began to fade away, and Sasami waved goodbye.

"Good journey, Ayeka," said Sasami.

---

The stars in the skylight twinkled in perfect time to the music. After a few moments, the stars became fish, swimming through blue water. Ayeka gazed at them with admiring eyes. Ryoko blinked a few times, taking a few minutes to get used to being able to see again. If she could at least have normal eyesight in her dreams, she decided, then she wouldn't miss it that much. In fact, it seemed surprisingly ... limited, given what her new abilities allowed her to do when she was awake. "Sasami's having a good dream now," Ayeka said, her eyes seeming as if they were focused on something far away.

Ryoko looked at Ayeka and winked. "Oh, I see ... your new power is to create magical girl dreams?"

Ayeka grinned mischievously. "Careful now, Miss Ryoko, or I may turn this dream of yours into a magical girl dream! My, my, I wonder how you would look in a sailor fuku?"

Ryoko clutched her chest in mock horror. "You wouldn't dare!"

Ayeka smiled wickedly, and Ryoko pretended to be afraid.

"So ... what did you give Tenchi?" Ryoko finally asked.

Ayeka shook her head and made a zipping motion across her lips.

"Bitch," Ryoko murmured, grinning playfully and elbowing Ayeka in the ribs.

"Slut," Ayeka said, smiling just as playfully as she elbowed Ryoko back.

They laughed for a while, until Ayeka suddenly became serious and said softly, "Miss Ryoko, I'm afraid that this is the last time I'll be able to appear to you. As I go farther in my journey, it will become impossible to spare the power needed to maintain such a psychic connection."

"Oh, did you have to bring that up?" Ryoko said, pretending to be angry, "Stuck-up princess! Always having to ruin the fun!"

"Well, of course I have to, you annoying monster-woman," Ayeka said, imitating Ryoko's expression of mock-anger, "Someone has to be serious around here!"

As soon as those words were out of her mouth, the two women cracked up, laughing so loudly that they drowned out the sound of the water fountain, the humming of the machines, and the soft music playing in the room. Ayeka took a last admiring look at her surroundings.

"Your birthplace was beautiful," she said, "Thank you for sharing it with me, Miss Ryoko."

"No prob," said Ryoko, giving her friend one final hug, "By the way, Mihoshi volunteered to deliver your message to Jurai. Kiyone will be going with her, of course. So long, princess."

"So long," Ayeka repeated, fading away before her eyes.

The fish seen through the "skylight" changed into birds, flying through a bright sky. Ryoko pointed a finger at the view and concentrated, until the birds transformed into pink butterflies. She smiled and let out a tired but happy sigh. Strolling over to a desk in the room, she spotted a newspaper clipping, which she recognized as the one that she had tried to read during the first time she had dreamt of her birthplace.

Remembering that she hadn't finished reading it the last time, she looked at it again: "Washu Hakubi and Nobuo Mizutani are proud to announce the birth of their first child..."

Ryoko stopped reading and wondered what seemed so maddeningly familiar about the name "Mizutani" all of a sudden. After thinking for a moment, it came to her. Hadn't Ayeka said something to Mihoshi about a Detective Yuri Mizutani?

"Ayeka?" Ryoko called out, "Can you still hear me?"

There was no response.

"Good journey, Ayeka," Ryoko murmured sadly.

---

Tenchi was still awake. He sat on his bed, looking at the ring again. The diamond seemed to wink at him in the light of his bedside lamp. It wasn't time yet, he decided. It was just too soon. He loved Ryoko dearly, and he knew that she would be a wonderful mother for Mayuka, and yet ... and yet ...

And yet ... what? Well, they hadn't yet been able to spend much time alone (just the two of them), for one thing. He didn't want to rush anything ... but then, he had already delayed in telling Ryoko how he felt about her for a long time, so...

Tenchi shook his head. One should not make such important decisions while tired. He put the ring back into its little velvet bag, then put the bag into a drawer. After a moment's thought, he opened the drawer and took the bag out again. Tenchi rummaged through his drawer until he found a piece of cord long enough to suit his needs, and used it to replace the small ribbon that had been used to tie the bag to the flute.

Satisfied that he could always carry the bag around his neck, underneath his shirt, he placed it with the clothes he would be wearing the next day. Whenever he felt that the time was right, he wanted to be ready. Turning off his bedside lamp, Tenchi decided it was time to get some sleep.

---

It was dark, and the only available illumination shone down like a spotlight on a single glass figurine. Tenchi gazed down upon it, and he saw that it was a small statue of his mother. He held his breath at the sight. It looked so small and delicate and beautiful...

A horrible sound pierced the darkness. The figurine trembled violently, and finally shattered. Glass shards flew through the air, looking like snow in the spotlight. Tenchi fell to his knees and put his hands over his ears, but the sound had already stopped. Not that it helped any. He knew the sound all to well, for it had lingered in the back of his mind for years, and haunted him in his nightmares, even though he often awoke with no recollection of what it was that had frightened him so. But he knew it now. Oh yes, he knew.

It was his voice. His voice when he was a small child, telling his dying mother that he hated her.

Several more spotlights appeared, revealing a long series of shelves. Tenchi was afraid to look at them, but the sight of Achika's shattered figurine frightened him even more. He looked at the shelf nearest him, and saw that it displayed numerous glass figurines, and no two looked alike. There were many shelves, and Tenchi somehow knew that he had met each and every one of the people represented by the figurines. There was one of his old friend Amagasaki, and another of his grade school math teacher...

On the smaller shelves were people he had only known in passing: someone he had accidentally bumped into in the supermarket, a taxi driver that had driven him home once. Logically, Tenchi should not have been able to recognize all of the figurines of people that he had met only once, but somehow whenever his eyes fell upon one of the glass figures, he instantly knew the person's connection to him.

Eventually, Tenchi lost interest in the smaller shelves, and walked straight to the largest shelf that he could see. His closest friends and family were all there, the people who were most important to him. There was his father, his grandfather, Ryoko, Ayeka, Mayuka ... everyone who currently lived in the Masaki home. There was even a tiny Ryo-Oh-Ki.

Just as that realization hit him, soft voices came from the figures of Ayeka and Ryoko. They were Ayeka and Ryoko's voices, of course. The voices increased in volume, until Tenchi could hear what the voices were talking about.

Him. They were talking about him. Not just talking about him, but fighting for him, like the real Ayeka and Ryoko used to. Tenchi felt the powerful urge to tell them to stop arguing, but he remembered what his younger self's words had done to the statue of his mother, so he remained silent.

The voices of Ryoko and Ayeka became louder and louder, until the figurine of Ayeka began to vibrate. Tenchi's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to tell the voices to stop fighting, but he was too late. The figure of Ayeka shattered, and Tenchi took a step back in horror. His shoulder hit a shelf behind him, and two more glass figurines fell to the ground and broke. Turning around, he saw that they were of Kagato and Yuzuha.

A spotlight suddenly shone down on a dark area that had no shelves, revealing a pool of blood. Kneeling on the floor, dressed in her lavender kimono, was his mother, scrubbing at the blood.

Tenchi told himself that he was dreaming, and that the dream was now turning into that recurring nightmare of his. He felt his feet taking him forward, as they always did. His mother continued to scrub at the blood, and did not look up. Tenchi had the same sick feeling he always did during this nightmare, but this time something seemed even more horrible than it usually did.

"Tenchi..." his mother whispered, without looking up at him, "What have you done?"

That had never happened before!

"You broke the promise you made to me..." she sobbed, scrubbing harder at the blood. Her kimono blackened as it became soaked in it.

Unable to bear this sight, Tenchi began to turn his head, when he suddenly noticed that there was a stream of blood that fed the red pool his mother was scrubbing at. His eyes followed the stream to the source of the blood...

Yuzuha.

The small demoness stood there, her childlike eyes filling with tears. Large, crude stitches formed a line down the center of her face. Blood leaked out between the stitches and flowed onto the floor. Tenchi remembered that he had sliced her face in half with the Light Hawk Sword ... but Yuzuha had been a hideous monster at the time, not this ... this ... child.

Tenchi screamed and shut his eyes. Suddenly feeling a pair of hands on his shoulders, he opened his eyes and saw that it was his mother, but something felt very wrong. He realized that the whites of her eyes had an eerie bluish tinge to them, and her hands were purple claws.

"No child should be without a mother," she whispered into his ear, "And no mother should be without her child, wouldn't you agree, Tenchi?"

Tenchi tried to break free from her, but he suddenly felt very heavy and tired. He sank to his knees, and the nightmare mother knelt in front of him, never releasing her grip.

"Washu left me," the nightmare mother said softly, "and Tsunami betrayed me ... then Tsunami had her child kill my daughter. My poor little Yuzuha is dead. What shall I do with you, child of Tsunami?"

Tenchi's eyes widened fearfully.

The nightmare mother smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "You needn't be afraid of me," she whispered, "I shall free you from Tsunami. And the daughter of Washu will join us, because of her love for you. And so I shall have you both, and I will have my revenge."

"N-no!" Tenchi managed to say, trying to break out of her terrifying embrace. She smiled again, and began to stroke his cheek with one clawed hand.

"We shall be together soon, and no one will be able to stop us," she said softly.

Tenchi turned his head and bit her hand as hard as he could.

Frowning, the nightmare mother grabbed him by the throat with her other hand. "I don't love you," she hissed as Tenchi tried to gasp for breath, "But I love the devoted son that you will soon become..."

Her eyes stared into his, and Tenchi felt repulsed and compelled at the same time. Her eyes were so cold, so evil, so ... so beautiful... The nightmare mother's smile returned, and she began to stroke his hair.

"Lord Tenchi!" a familiar voice shouted, "Lord Tenchi, you must fight back!"

There was a reddish-purple flash of light, and Tenchi squeezed his eyes shut and cried out...

---

Tenchi screamed and sat up so quickly that his head nearly collided with Ryoko, who at that moment had just materialized over his bed.

"Tenchi, what's the matter?" Ryoko asked worriedly.

Tenchi could not answer. He just sat there and trembled. The nightmare ... it had been that awful nightmare about his mother and the pool of blood again. But something - no, several things - had been different this time. There were glass statues, and something about Tsunami and Washu ... no, that didn't make any sense. Tenchi shook his head. He couldn't remember, but it had been something horrible. Cold perspiration mixed with hot tears on his face, and he wrapped his blanket tightly around himself and let out a small whimper.

He saw Ryoko's hand stretching out towards him, stopping just a few inches from his chest. His felt his pounding heart begin to slow down, and his breathing become more relaxed.

"Better?" she asked softly.

Slowly, Tenchi reached out and pulled her hand closer to him, until it was actually touching his chest. Taking the hint, Ryoko floated closer to him, and wrapped both her arms around him. They sat there like that for several minutes, until Ryoko moved one of her hands and began to wipe away the tears on Tenchi's face.

"You feel guilty about something," Ryoko murmured, "You feel like you don't deserve to be held by anyone..." Her sightless eyes began to glow with silver light, but did not seem terrifying in the least.

Ryoko touched her forehead to his, and Tenchi suddenly saw Juraian ships going down in flames, soldiers rushing at him and being thrown back by energy blasts that he was firing, causing him to laugh, but not with his voice ... it was Ryoko's. He realized that he was experiencing what Ryoko recalled of her attack on Jurai, when she had been under Kagato's control. Children fled from him/Ryoko, their eyes filled with fear and hate...

Suddenly, Tenchi was in his bedroom again. Ryoko stroked Tenchi's hair, and the perspiration actually vanished. She removed the blanket that had been wrapped around him, and ran her hands down his arms. A pleasant tingly sensation erupted under her touch, and a new vision came to him...

Everything was dark, and he felt very cold and alone. A soft light eventually broke through the darkness, and he saw a woman with a baby strapped to her back. He recognized the woman as his mother. The baby turned his little head and saw him/Ryoko, and his eyes did not contain any of the fear or disgust that the Juraian children had shown. Suddenly, existence did not seem so lonely...

Tenchi had once seen Ryoko watching him in a dream, but he had not known that it had meant so much to her so early in his life. "I did that for you?" Tenchi whispered.

Ryoko nodded. Her fingers danced along his back, lightly at first, and then with a bit more pressure as she began to massage it, seeming to instinctively know which places needed the most attention...

He experienced Ryoko's memories from inside the cave, and watched himself growing up. Watching that little boy playing made him/Ryoko feel happy and alive...

Ryoko pressed herself against him very closely, so that her warm breath caressed his face, and he could feel her heart beating against his chest...

He saw himself as a little boy, crying that his mother was dead. He/Ryoko tried desperately to put a comforting hand on the child's shoulder, or wipe away his tears, but it was impossible. Tenchi felt Ryoko's devastation at being unable to comfort someone who had brought such joy into her life... Then Tenchi saw his own death from Ryoko's point of view, when Kagato had killed him during his attempt to save her. He felt her grief and helplessness, as she had realized that she had been unable to protect him...

"I hope to make that up to you now ... to make it up to you everyday..." Ryoko whispered, the silver light finally leaving her eyes. Her breathing was shaky, and Tenchi realized that she was trying very hard not to cry.

Too moved to speak, Tenchi kissed her on the lips, and he could feel her heart beat faster. His hands explored her back, and she made a small sound in the back of her throat that was almost a purr. Eventually, they broke off the kiss, and Ryoko fell back onto Tenchi's bed.

"I'm tired..." she said in a small voice.

Tenchi realized that she must have used a lot of energy to share her memories with him. He carefully got out of the bed and slid his pillow under Ryoko's head, then covered her with his blanket.

"Thank you," Tenchi said, kissing Ryoko on the forehead, "Sleep well, my love."

Taking a spare pillow and blanket out of his closet, Tenchi lay down on the floor and listened to the gentle sound of Ryoko's breathing. After a while, he fell asleep and dreamt of his mother, which on this night was a mixed blessing.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: Washu is torn between uncovering the past and leaving it alone, while Kiyone reflects on her life as she and Mihoshi head for Jurai. Meanwhile, Tenchi and Ryoko enjoy a peaceful day together ... but how long can that peace last? Don't miss Chapter 5 of Confess to You, "Departure from the Light"!

Author's notes: I would like to start with a salute to my pal Lesell Charis, an Ayeka fan whose fan fics and drawings have been a true inspiration! (Now hurry up with the rest of "Always Be True to Your Heart"! ^_~)

I would also like to thank David "K'thardin" R. Nolen for his little science lesson on the last chapter of this series. While I'm at it, I'd also like to thank him for letting me get away with abusing his Cyraqs character so much in the ongoing Ayeka Fan Club story. Heh heh heh.

May the gods forgive me, I just created yet another alternate reality for Pretty Sammy! As if things weren't confusing enough! Seriously, I know that some parts of this chapter were probably too cutesy for some tastes, but I just wanted to take a little break before the next chapter, when things really start to heat up! But before that happens, I'm gonna have Tenchi and Ryoko spending some quality time together. (Finally! I've been dying to get to this part of the series!)

Anyway, I want to hear from you! Please send me C&C, suggestions, or questions concerning this story, or any of my other fics.

Thanks for reading! See ya next chapter!

Thought of the day: Whatever happened to Sasami's pet? Y'know, the furry white critter that she had in OAV episode 2? I suppose it could have died in the ship crash, but what if it didn't? Did it run off into the wild? Did it get a job at an anime studio and draw character designs for a new series, despite its' lack of opposable thumbs? (So THAT'S why the Shin Tenchi character designs look so blah!) Maybe this should be a fan fic challenge ... write what you think happened to Sasami's pet! Be as off-the-wall as you want! Heck, the critter doesn't even have to be a pet! It could be Ayeka's accountant, for all I know! Use your imaginations!

[AleeN: Um ... Lita, if you've been dying to write Chapter 5, then why don't you do that instead of yakking about some animal?]

Oh ... oh yeah. See ya, folks, I'd better get writing.

Text copyright 1999, Literary Eagle  
(But most of the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)


	5. Departure from the Light

Hi, everyone! Thanks for following this series so far! An extra big thank-you to those who sent comments and criticism! Please keep it coming! By the way, if you e-mailed me and didn't receive a response, it's probably because I e-mailed you but the message got sent back to me. I always feel so bad when my thank-you letters don't make it to their destinations! ::sniffles:: So, if you e-mail me and want me to write back, please make sure that you use an e-mail address that will actually accept my response.

[AleeN: Hey, Lita, it sure took you a long time to get this new chapter done!]

Yeah. Sorry about that. But, as promised, this chapter contains scenes of Ryoko and Tenchi spending some quality time together. There's plenty of stuff involving the other characters, too, so let's get to it! I'll save my babbling for the Author's Notes at the end. ^_- But first, the necessary disclaimer...

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are the property of Pioneer and AIC. This story, however, is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun. Fun is good for my health. Suing me is not. *wink*

Oh, and if you'd like to post this story on your site, please ask me first.

Last Chapter: One year after the events of Manatsu no Eve, Ayeka left the Masaki home to start a new life. Meanwhile, Washu received a strange reminder of the past...

Confess to You: Chapter Five - Departure from the Light  
By Literary Eagle

Sagas. Secrets.  
Promises. Prophecies.  
History. Their story. Our story. All part of one story.

If one only knew how to listen, one could hear the tale of this strange place. It was a very grand, very unusual place indeed. There seemed to be an endless number of tunnels. The tunnels themselves appeared to be endless in length. Twisting and splitting off in all directions, they resembled blood vessels. In fact, this realm really and truly was alive, for it was mostly made of wood that had grown twisted together to form the walls of the tunnels. Although the lives that made up these tunnels could not speak, they had memories, and had quite a history to share.

Yes, if one only knew the right way to listen, one could hear their story: how this realm had once been something different, but had been warped beyond recognition by a family tragedy. After that, the remaining inhabitants had been bitter and twisted individuals whose presence had brought sickness to the dimension and warped it further still. That had been the end of all joy for this world, until centuries later when something wonderful had happened: the arrival of four visitors. All four of them had had certain traits that were signs of two cherished beings who had left before. It had been a sign that things were about to change, after all this time. It had been a sign of hope.

And now, one year later, one of those visitors had returned! The amethyst-haired young woman who had appeared with the branch of light had returned! If not for the fact that the living wood that made up this realm had become weak and sick, the entire place would have sung with gratitude and joy. She had come to keep her promise about the light always prevailing! She had come back! Although they were voiceless, the wood just had to find some way to thank her. They summoned all the energy they could spare, to commit this one small act of thanks.

---

Ayeka wiped at the drop of water that had suddenly fallen onto her head. Compelled to taste it for some reason, she found it to be the sweetest water that she had ever tasted. And yet ... and yet she could not shake the feeling that it was a teardrop. Not one of sadness, mind you, but the kind of tear brought about by the kind of sheer, indescribable joy that smiles alone could not convey. It was a strange feeling. But it was a wonderful feeling as well. Still, she could not let the distraction slow her down too much, and so she kept walking.

Ayeka had been walking in these tunnels for days, not stopping to rest even once. She could keep walking for as long as she had to, for there was no time in the Dimension of Darkness. Fancy that: she had died, been without a body on her way to this dimension, then obtained a real physical form again, and despite the energy all of that had required, she wasn't even tired now. It was almost funny.

"Turn left", instructed the voice in Ayeka's mind, causing the princess' thoughts to turn serious again. She obeyed the familiar voice of her guide, frowning with worry at the same time. The voice sounded even weaker than before.

"Are you alright?" Ayeka whispered to the air.

"Please..." the Voice in her mind replied weakly, "Please talk to me. About anything." The plea was hardly louder than a whisper, but it filled Ayeka with such concern that her hands shook. But she knew that she could not reach out to hold the other's hand or offer a reassuring embrace, so she kept walking. As Ayeka walked, she spoke softly about life in the Masaki home.

She described waking up to the smell of Sasami making breakfast every morning. She talked about watering flowers in the garden, and the conversations she often had with Kiyone there. She spoke of Mihoshi and Ryo-Oh-Ki making angels in the snow when it was winter and sleeping on the porch when it was summer. Most of all, she talked about Tenchi. She talked about his kindness, his warmth, his smile.

Ayeka had a sort of mental image of her unseen companion clinging onto her words for support. At the same time, Ayeka was comforting herself with her words, banishing her doubts and fears by reminding herself why she was doing this. _I do this for Sasami. I do this for Lord Tenchi. I do this for Miss Ryoko. I do this for all those I care about._

Meanwhile, the tunnel had begun to curve upwards so sharply that Ayeka had to climb rather than walk at some places. Eventually, the tunnel became completely vertical, with walls too smooth to climb. Her Jurai power would not work in this realm, but fortunately Ayeka had other resources. Taking slow, deep breaths, Ayeka closed her eyes and wished...

Wished.  
And whispered.  
And pleaded...

Opening her eyes, she saw that her tiara was casting the silver light of her new power, adding to the tunnel's natural illumination (for the walls were made of a strange wood that gave off a soft glow). The wood in front Ayeka began to twist and buckle, until the formerly smooth surface now had enough handholds and footholds for climbing. Making it to the tunnel's end, Ayeka stepped into a cavern that contained many more tunnel entrances. The voice told Ayeka which way to go, and the princess made her way in that direction, still talking about Tenchi. "I am grateful to him," Ayeka whispered, "It was he who started me on this path. It was he who first opened my eyes."

"And now, who will open Tenchi's eyes?" the Voice asked her.

In reply, Ayeka began to talk about Ryoko. She smiled as she described Washu and Ryoko washing Mayuka at the onsen, trying out a new soap that Washu had created.

"The soap made Mayuka smell like cherry blossoms," Ayeka whispered, remembering, "I told Miss Ryoko how pleasant the scent was, and she jokingly suggested I use the soap on myself to get rid of the 'royal stench'. We got into a playful fight, flinging water at each other, until Miss Washu decided to join in the fun by dumping an entire barrel of the soap onto the two of us. Miss Ryoko and I wound up smelling so strongly of cherry blossoms that we had to stay outside the house in order to keep the odor from overwhelming everyone else. Miss Ryoko brought some sake, and we got drunk and made nasty jokes about Seiryo far into the night..."

"Ryoko is your friend," the Voice said. It was not a question.

"Yes," said Ayeka.

"But you did not think she was worthy of friendship at first," said the voice. This was also not a question.

"Well, I was wrong," Ayeka said softly.

The Voice let out a small, self-deprecatory laugh. "As for me, I have been wrong about many things, haven't I?" the voice said.

"I forgive you," said Ayeka.

"Thank you," the Voice said, "I only wish that I could forgive myself."

Ayeka kept walking.

---

There was a great splash, and Ryoko rose out of the sea, followed by a school of flying fish providing escort. The spray of water surrounding her nude body caught the sunlight, sparkling like strings of precious jewels with rainbows woven around them by the sun's golden fingers. As Ryoko's body hovered motionless in midair, the fish took the shimmering rainbow silk that had been created from the water, and wrapped it around Ryoko. Once she was dressed, the fish nodded with satisfaction, and dove back into the sea.

Ryoko casually began to walk across the surface of the sea, towards the shore. As soon as her feet touched the dry sand, the illusion of the beach disappeared, revealing snow in place of sand. The sea behind her turned into blue sky. She was now standing on a mountaintop. Ryoko made her way forward, until she found a great block of silver standing before her.

Ryoko gazed at the gleaming surface of the silver block. Golden eyes stared back at her from her reflection. So ... she was not the blind, silver-eyed Ryoko here. Not that such a thing really mattered to her. No, what was important to her was finding the one who made her complete, no matter what shade her eyes were or how well they could see. If she could see him with her heart, feel him with her soul, then that was what mattered. Him above all. Love above all.

Ryoko picked up a sharp stone from the ground and attempted to smash the block open. The stone broke, and the surface of the silver block was left without the slightest scratch. Trying a different approach, Ryoko reached out and touched the block with her bare hand, tracing circles with a fingertip. The silver began to melt like ice in the sun. Ryoko knelt in the snow, placed her lips on top of the block, and closed her eyes.

She could feel the block continuing to melt, until her lips were no longer resting upon silver, but upon the lips of someone else. Opening her eyes, Ryoko saw the sleeping face of the dark-haired, enchanted prince. Pulling her head back, she saw that the silver had completely melted, and that the prince was now lying in a pool of silvery liquid.

The prince's eyelids fluttered. "Ryoko?" Tenchi asked softly, blinking at her and sitting up.

Tears of joy ran down Ryoko's face, as Tenchi put his arms around her and kissed her. After stopping to catch Ryoko's tears in his hands, Tenchi ran his fingers through her hair, the tears turning into trails of diamonds and opals that his fingertips left behind in her cyan tresses. Ryoko lay down and pulled Tenchi down with her, sighing happily as his warm body pressed against hers, and his lips brushed against her neck. She gently lifted Tenchi's head so that they could kiss again, while a curtain of flower petals blew in on the breeze. The fragrant curtain completely surrounded the mountaintop, so that not even the birds could disturb the pair.

Ryoko broke off the kiss and opened her eyes. "Tenchi..." she began, but stopped when she saw that Tenchi was gone, and she was alone in darkness.

"Tenchi?" Ryoko called out worriedly. Feeling strangely cold, she tried to wrap her arms around herself, but she could not feel her arms. She stretched a hand out in front of her, and could not see her hand. Frantic, Ryoko began to run through the darkness ... but she could not feel her legs, and wasn't even sure that she really was running.

Why was she here? Why was she alone? What had become of Tenchi? Ryoko continued running (Was she even running?). She tried to scream, but panic froze her vocal cords.

A figure materialized in front of her, and Ryoko ran towards it, desperate not to be left alone in this dark place. As she ran closer to the figure, Ryoko could see that it was a gray-haired woman in a lavender kimono. As she ran closer still, she recognized the woman as Tenchi's mother, Achika Masaki.

"Come to me, daughter of Washu," said Tenchi's mother.

Something about Achika's voice made Ryoko stop running. Staring hard at Achika, Ryoko realized that the whites of her eyes had a strange blue tinge to them, and her hands were purple claws.

"Come to me, daughter of Washu," Achika said again, holding one of her clawed hands out to her.

"No," said Ryoko, taking a step back.

Tenchi stepped out of the darkness just then. "Mother," he said softly, smiling at the strange Achika.

Achika kissed Tenchi on the forehead. "No one will be able to stop us," she whispered, wrapping her clawed arms around him in an oddly gentle embrace.

"Mother," Tenchi said again, returning her embrace. He then turned his head to look at Ryoko. "Join us, my love." he said.

Ryoko took another step back. "You're not Achika!" she snarled at the woman, "Who are you?"

"Join us, daughter of Washu," the false Achika said, acting as if she had not heard Ryoko's last words.

"No!" Ryoko shouted, "Now let Tenchi go!" She lunged forward, ready for a fight ... but Achika faded from sight, as did Tenchi.

"Where are you?" Ryoko shouted.

A spotlight pierced the blackness, shining down upon a series of shelves holding glass figurines, most of which had been smashed. The light glinted off the bits of glass so harshly that Ryoko almost felt as if her eyes had been stabbed. So distracting was the glare that Ryoko was completely startled when some of the glass shards suddenly came flying through the air in her general direction. Crying out in surprise, she flew out of their path, but they followed her and embedded themselves into her forehead, several dozen pinpricks of fire burrowing through her skin. She fell to the floor and screamed in pain, her scream causing the shards to bury themselves in deeper. Through the pain, Ryoko became dimly aware of a clawed hand placing itself upon her shoulder, and despite the pain she managed (barely) to look up to see the false Achika gazing down at her.

"I will have you both," the false Achika said softly. She held Ryoko in a firm but gentle grip, and Ryoko began to sob as the nightmarish Achika pulled the shards of glass out of her forehead. Once the task was done, the false Achika's blue-tinged eyes gazed into Ryoko's, and she stopped crying.

"Mother," said Ryoko, the word rising unexpectedly from her throat. Her eyes widened in shock at what she had just said, and she began to cry again. Achika merely smiled and kissed her on the forehead before letting go of her. Ryoko slumped to the floor, trembling. Her forehead had gone numb.

"I will have you both..." the false Achika repeated, before disappearing again.

---

Ryoko awoke with a start, her heart pounding. Through the open window of the room she shared with Mayuka, she could hear birds greeting the morning. To Ryoko's panicked senses, their chirps felt too loud, too harsh. She put her hands over her ears and whimpered.

It was so dark! Where was Tenchi? He was in danger. No wait, that had just been a dream. Then why was it still so dark?

After a moment, Ryoko became fully awake, her mind finally catching up to her racing heart. She sighed and rubbed at her sightless eyes, which were smarting for some reason. A nightmare. That was all it had been. Still, Ryoko tried to recall exactly what about the dream had frightened her so. Something about Tenchi being in the dark? The memory had already become too hazy.

Giving up, Ryoko stood and made her way to Mayuka's crib. The infant was not there. Ryoko fought down panic as she reminded herself that it was not unusual for Sasami or Washu to take the baby downstairs before she was awake. Not wanting to stay in the room all alone, Ryoko phased through the door and made her way down to the kitchen.

---

Washu's lab was a scientific symphony. Machines hummed and pulsed to the rhythm of distant star systems. Following this rhythm, numbers cascaded down computer monitors like mathematical rivulets feeding a growing sea of knowledge. Various specimens hopped about in their cages or swam in their tanks, their growls and chirps and purrs all songs of their worlds.

Once, this lab was Washu's greatest comfort and joy. It had not always been that way, but at any rate there was a time when it was so. Later, her need for seeking comfort in her work had lessened, as the gap between her and her daughter had ceased be an obstacle, bridged by the sweetness of the baby Mayuka, and the love and support of the other Masaki home residents.

Oh, she still enjoyed working in her lab from time to time, but did not always do so in solitude. She sometimes had the company of her lab assistant Kiyone, or her daughter, or one of the others. Usually it was NOT Mihoshi, but sometimes even she was welcomed in for cookies and milk and a light chat.

But there were times when Washu still wanted to be alone inside her lab. Today was one of those times. However, all of her machines and monitors and specimens were being ignored for the moment, as Washu stared at a faded newspaper clipping. The technological wonders of her lab whirred and flashed and begged for their creator's attention, but she was absorbed in looking at this worn and yellowed piece of paper, of all things. The headline began with "Washu Hakubi and Nobuo Mizutani are proud to announce the birth of their first child...". Much of the rest of the text in the article was blurred, to some extent simply faded with age, but the ink had also run in some places where tears had fallen onto the paper.

Washu's gaze finally left the newspaper article, and she looked up at her transparent computer. The spot on her hand where she had gotten a splinter from Ayeka's silver tree branch was beginning to itch again. She scratched her hand and sighed. It had been several days since Ayeka's farewell message to the Masaki household ... when Washu had heard the princess mention a Detective Yuri Mizutani to Mihoshi.

Washu was looking at the file on Detective Mizutani that she had recently obtained (not legally, mind you, but right now she didn't care) from Galaxy Police records. She studied the picture of the blonde-haired, green-eyed woman who had been Mihoshi's partner before Kiyone. According to the file, Detective Mizutani was presumed dead after the planet Amano's sun had exploded.

The itch returned, and Washu grumbled as she scratched her hand again. None of her ointments had helped any.

Amano. The name of Washu's husband's home planet.

Washu scratched her hand again.

Mizutani. The family name of Washu's husband.

Washu's eyes watered, and she wiped at them with her sleeve and sighed. Mizutani ... But that was impossible! Thousands of years ago, long before Amano had been destroyed, the Mizutani line had been wiped out.

They had killed themselves.

No one had informed her of the mass suicide, even though her husband and child had been Mizutanis. She had found out about it on the news just like everyone else. She had returned to her lab after another day of teaching at the academy, and had turned on the news just as they were describing what police had found in an old building just outside Amano's capital. According to the report, the bodies made up the entire Mizutani clan. Just when it had seemed to Washu that her life could not be any worse, just when Washu had already thought that her very existence was so painful that every breath she took hurt, THIS had happened.

Washu had waited for word from her husband, hoping against hope that he and their son were alive. But she had heard nothing. She could have hacked into police files and searched through pictures of all the bodies to be sure, but she simply had not been able to bring herself to do so. She had been certain that, if she were to find their bodies among the dead, it would destroy her. But something about the possibility of NOT finding them had frightened her even more. If they weren't dead, and her husband had not contacted her, even though his relatives were no longer able to keep them apart ... then what would that mean? It would mean that he no longer loved her, that's what it would mean.

And so, she had simply tried to stop caring. In some ways, she had already done so beforehand: when the Mizutanis had taken her husband and child away, she had buried herself in her work, avoiding social contact outside of teaching and working with her lab assistants. Once she had learned of the mass suicide, she had even changed her body into that of a child's, to make herself even more unapproachable.

She never, ever wanted to feel hurt like that again. Damn the Mizutanis for their elitist ways! Damn whatever cult they had created for themselves! Damn them for ruining her family! And ... and damn herself for trying not to care anymore. This was not a life. When that realization came to her one day, she chose to create a new family. And so, Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki were born.

Washu shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. Actually, she was really just bringing herself back to the present long enough to try and learn more about the past. Reading over Detective Mizutani's file, Washu noted that the woman's name apparently was Yuri Kobayashi earlier in life, and that she had changed her name to Yuri Mizutani later on. What did it mean?

With trembling fingers, Washu accessed the file that she once swore she would never look at: the Galaxy Police report on the death of the Mizutanis. The case number of the file stared at her from the computer screen, and below it rested a message telling her to press any key to continue. Washu hesitated. What would she find? Did she really want to know? Was it really worth it?

The pain from thousands of years of not knowing clawed at the inside of her skull, then traveled down her spine and settled into a heavy feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach. Still, Washu hesitated, her hand hovering uncertainly over the keyboard. If her thoughts had not been so occupied, she might have found it a rather comical pose for the "Greatest scientific genius in the universe".

An image came to her mind, then: not of her husband, not of her son, but of Mihoshi. She recalled the tears of joy in Mihoshi's eyes when Ayeka had said to the detective in her farewell message, "I know for a fact that Detective Yuri Mizutani would be proud of you". Who was this woman who had meant so much to Mihoshi? Who? The itch on Washu's hand flared up again. Washu grimaced, but did not try to scratch it.

Instead, she brought her hand down and jabbed the nearest key.

---

Sasami hummed a cheery tune to herself as she prepared breakfast. For the past few days, she had not needed to prepare as much food as usual. Mihoshi and Kiyone had departed for Jurai with Ryo-Oh-Ki to deliver Ayeka's farewell message to her parents, which had been stored in the cabbit's memory. Much to everyone's surprise, Katsuhito had insisted on going with them.

At any rate, with so many of them away, meal preparation was considerably less work for Sasami. However, that was not why Sasami was humming. The fact was that Sasami enjoyed cooking for the entire family, and she missed the absent household members, especially Ayeka and Ryo-Oh-Ki. It was also too quiet without everybody at home. No, the reason why Sasami was humming was because she had ... plans. A mischievous smile crossed her face, but she carefully made her facial expression neutral when Tenchi came into the room. Time for step one of the plan.

"Good morning, Tenchi," she said.

"Hi, Sasami," he said. He smiled at Mayuka, who was sitting in the kitchen in her highchair, and tickled her. The baby laughed with delight.

"Oh, Tenchi, there's still some time before breakfast is ready," Sasami said casually, "So why don't you go to the onsen and have a nice bath?"

"That's alright," said Tenchi, grinning at Mayuka and continuing to tickle her, "I think I'll just stay here and-"

"Urp!" Mayuka spat up onto Tenchi.

"Then again..." Tenchi muttered.

"Guess you'll have to go after all," said Sasami, trying to hide her relief. Thank goodness for Mayuka! Her plan had almost not worked.

Once Tenchi left for the onsen, Sasami began to work at cleaning up some of the mess Mayuka had made. She had almost finished when Ryoko entered the kitchen. Sasami smiled. Time for part 2.

"Good morning, Ryoko," said Sasami.

"Good morning, Sasami," said Ryoko, rubbing her eyes for some reason, "Can I help you set the table?"

Sasami knew that, despite being blind, Ryoko was perfectly capable of table setting and much more. That also meant that Sasami was able to have some more fun. "Sure," said Sasami, "Could you set places for three people, please?" She smiled to herself and waited for the reaction.

"Uh, Sasami," said Ryoko, "Don't we need two more? Don't tell me other people left while I was asleep..."

"No, it's not that," Sasami laughed, pleased to have been able to puzzle Ryoko like that. _Okay, time to really get things rolling._ Sasami then said in a sly whisper, "You see ... Tenchi's at the onsen right now."

Ryoko's sightless silver eyes fixed themselves on Sasami, as if trying to read the young princess' expression, even though of course she couldn't really see Sasami.

"You'll find a picnic basket hidden near the onsen, in those bushes that Mihoshi got tangled in once," Sasami said calmly, "It should have enough food for you and Tenchi to have breakfast and lunch."

"Um, thanks..." said Ryoko. To herself, she thought, _We have GOT to make sure Sasami quits looking at Nobuyuki's manga collection!_ But secretly, she was a little pleased.

Once Ryoko was gone, Sasami giggled. Tenchi was in for a surprise.

_Enjoy this day,_ Sasami thought, _You two deserve it._

---

Ebb.  
Flow.  
Ebb.  
Flow.

From her otherworldly sanctuary, Tsunami listened to the ebbing and flowing of the waters on Earth. She felt their movement, their music... the whispers of the gentle mists, the ferocity of the roaring waves. She also felt her own inner turmoil, the swirling of emotions within her, and sighed. She was a goddess, but sometimes she felt like a lost little girl.

She missed her family.

Correction: She had a wonderful family because of Sasami, but what about her older sisters? Washu was there, but she had lost her memory. And as for Tokimi...

Tsunami sighed again and buried her face in her hands. Tears ran between her fingers and dripped down to her feet.

Like all water, the teardrops sang.

"Tenchi," sang one.

"Ryoko," sang another.

"Ayeka," sang a third.

So much of what happened next was up to Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka now. But Tsunami had already put them through so much! If she could fight all the battles, take all the blows herself, she would without hesitation. But it just wouldn't work that way. She had known that for centuries, as she had made her plans and shaped the destinies of her children, the Juraian people. Still, that didn't make it easier to accept that the moment she had prepared for was drawing nearer.

She had been waiting for this time to arrive, but now that it was so close, she was very, very afraid. Not afraid for herself, but for all those she had grown to love. Ayeka, for one. Tsunami wanted to be able to protect her children from all harm, and yet she had sent Ayeka into the gravest danger.

And then there were the others. Sasami. Her son Tenchi.

And as for Ryoko...

Tsunami was about to put Ryoko through a test. Another one! Tsunami did not want to take away the special abilities that she had recently given Ryoko, but it was the only way to see if her niece had true understanding of them.

Tsunami bit her lower lip and held herself tightly. What if ... what if she was throwing away the lives of people she loved, trying to save others who simply could not be saved?

At that moment, she did not feel like a powerful goddess protecting the universe, nor like a mother who was helping her children to learn and grow. She just felt very confused and weak and frightened. More tears ran down her face, their small, mournful melodies joining with the music of the waters on Earth.

Ebb.  
Flow.  
Tears...

---

Tenchi liked to think while in the bath. It was one of the few places where he could have a little peace and quiet, given how crowded the house normally was. Of course, now that Ayeka, Ryo-Oh-Ki, Mihoshi, Kiyone, and even his grandfather were not there, the house wasn't anywhere near as crowded as it used to be. Still, that didn't make the onsen any less pleasant to visit. Things had changed so quickly in the past week that Tenchi needed a place to sort it all out in his head.

In just a few days, he had professed his love for Ryoko, then she had lost her eyesight, and then Ayeka had departed. Then Mihoshi had volunteered to take Ryo-Oh-Ki to Jurai, Kiyone had of course decided to watch over her, and for some reason that no one could figure out, Katsuhito had left with them.

Why had his grandfather decided to return to Jurai? He had not been home in over 700 years. In fact, he had told Ayeka that he never wanted to go back there. As far as Katsuhito had been concerned, Earth was his home, Earth was where he would live the rest of his life, and Earth was where he would be buried. At least, that was what he had said. Why the sudden change of heart?

Tenchi's thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone coming into the onsen. Whirling around, he saw Ryoko stepping into the water. The first thing Tenchi noticed was that she was wrapped in a towel for once. The second thing he noticed was that he was actually slightly disappointed that she was wearing a towel! Good grief, where had that thought come from?

"Hi Tenchi," Ryoko said, turning her eyes on him almost as if she could see, "Is it okay if I join you?"

Was it Tenchi's imagination, or was the temperature rising? Talk about being caught with your pants down! Or caught without a towel, at any rate. It was like the incident last year when the sixteen-year-old Mayuka had walked in on him.

Tenchi nearly smacked himself as a reminder that Ryoko couldn't see, so it didn't matter whether or not he had a towel on. Besides, seeing as Ryoko had covered herself, this clearly wasn't an attempt to ... um...

Tenchi turned red at the thought (even though the thought was ... rather pleasant), but managed to recover and say, "Sure, come on in."

Ryoko waded over to Tenchi and sat down beside him. She sighed happily and sank deeper into the water, up to her shoulders. The two of them sat together in silence, enjoying the tranquility and the soothing waters.

Tenchi's thoughts eventually returned to his grandfather. It was just so puzzling...

"What's wrong, Tenchi?" Ryoko said suddenly, "Is something bothering you?"

_I should have known better than to think that Ryoko wouldn't pick up on it,_ Tenchi thought. He felt like opening up to her, felt a need to voice his concerns out loud, not to mention a need to be honest with his beloved, but he knew that she was not all that comfortable with his grandfather. Understandable, given their history. "It's nothing, really," said Tenchi, shifting uncomfortably.

"Tenchi," Ryoko said softly, "You can tell me."

Tenchi took a deep breath and let it out. "It's about Grandpa," he admitted, "I can't stop wondering why he left for Jurai."

Ryoko glanced away from him, and Tenchi immediately felt a pang of regret for speaking. However, Ryoko's hand came out of the water and came to rest on Tenchi's shoulder. Her eyes glowed with a gentle silver light, and Tenchi began to feel a warm tingling sensation in his shoulder. He couldn't help but smile as Ryoko began to tickle his shoulder in this way. Ryoko smiled in return, looking quite pleased with herself for finding such a use for her new power.

"It's okay, Tenchi," said Ryoko, the glow fading from her eyes but her hand staying on him, "Even I'm a bit worried about your grandfather. I don't hate him for what he did to me. After all, it was because of him that I met you, right?"

"Thanks, Ryoko," said Tenchi, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Ryoko smiled and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

The squeeze suddenly became tighter when Ryoko let out a sharp gasp and sat up straight. Her eyes widened, and her pupils twitched so that it seemed as if she was gazing at something far away.

"Ryoko?" said Tenchi, slightly alarmed, "What's wrong?"

But Ryoko could not reply. The dull pain that had afflicted her eyes when she woke up that morning was now much worse.

When Ryoko did not answer him, Tenchi leaned in closer to her, and carefully looked into her nearest eye. A small spot of gold appeared, looking like a drop of honey floating in the silver pool of her iris. The golden droplet grew larger, the honey covering the silver until there was no silver left. Tenchi looked at Ryoko's other eye and saw that the same thing had happened.

"Ryoko?" said Tenchi.

Ryoko blinked a few times, then turned and looked at Tenchi. Somehow, Tenchi knew that Ryoko really was LOOKING at Tenchi. "I ... I can see!" said Ryoko, shaking her head in disbelief.

"That's great!" said Tenchi, throwing his arms around Ryoko.

"Uh ... I..." Ryoko began. She suddenly stopped trying to talk and glanced downwards. She let out a giggle and blushed slightly.

Tenchi glanced down too, and received a rather embarrassing reminder that he was not wearing a towel. Ryoko giggled again as Tenchi scrambled to get something to cover himself. Once he had put a towel on, he made his way back to her side. Ryoko had a small smile on her face, but she was also still blushing, and had closed her eyes. It was quite a difference that Zero's presence made, Tenchi mused. Still, Ryoko seemed to have been able to get around that when she had seen a naked Mayuka clinging to him last year.

Sitting back down beside her, Tenchi remained silent, waiting for Ryoko to make a move. But she did not, and remained in place with her head bowed, eyes closed, and cheeks still quite pink. Tenchi slowly reached out and put his arm around Ryoko, and her smile grew but she still kept her eyes closed. Very, very slowly, Tenchi leaned forward and kissed her bare shoulder, then her neck. Ryoko purred, and her lips parted so that she was smiling with her fangs showing. Ah, now this was more like his Ryoko!

Tenchi moved to kiss her earlobe next. Unfortunately, he did so just as Ryoko had decided to turn her head to face him. The tail of hair that hung in front of her ear brushed under his nose, and Ryoko kept moving her head...

"ACHOO!"

...Which resulted in Tenchi sneezing right into Ryoko's face.

Tenchi and Ryoko sat there staring at each other for a few minutes, stunned expressions on both their faces.

"Um ... I ... uh..." was all Tenchi could get out.

Just then, Ryoko grinned evilly. "You're going to pay for that!" she exclaimed, laughing as she pulled him under the water.

For the next while, the onsen absolutely rang with the sounds of laughter and loud splashing.

---

Kiyone's ship, Masami tTAN, continued on its course for the planet Jurai. It was the first time the ship had been in space since Kiyone had first arrived on Earth, about two years ago. As for Katsuhito, this was his first time in space since he had arrived on Earth over 700 years ago.

Everyone on board the ship was currently keeping to himself or herself. While Kiyone flew the ship, Mihoshi quietly sat in a corner and kept herself entertained with some sort of origami project. Ryo-Oh-Ki was taking a nap someplace, and Katsuhito went to yet another part of the ship to simply stare out a window and think.

He had not been in space for a very, very long time. And now that he was in space again, he was heading for Jurai, of all places. Katsuhito knew that his decision to go to Jurai had surprised everyone. What he had not told anyone was that he did not know why he was going, either. The fact that they could not even go to Jurai in Ryo-Oh-Ki, for fear of being shot at (even though Ryoko had been officially pardoned), was a reminder of the intolerance that had made him decide to leave Jurai in the first place.

He thought of the Earth, which he had long ago chosen as his new home, and which indeed felt more like home than Jurai ever did. He thought of the people he had met, when he had first arrived. He thought of all the people he had known during the centuries he had spent on Earth. Friends. Wives. Achika. Gone, all of them.

It was a very lonely existence, to live on Earth and be nearly immortal. When Ayeka and the others had become a part of the Masaki household, he had looked forward to having a family that appeared, for the most part, to be one that would last for a long time. True, he was the type who often preferred solitude, but whenever he had wanted company, they had always been there.

Always, that is, until the day they had found Ayeka's lifeless body by the tree Funaho, and watched the body disappear. Even though they had found out the next day that Ayeka was alive, that did not change the fact that Katsuhito had been deeply affected by what had happened. Of course, everyone had been affected by what had happened, but Katsuhito was someone who had already outlived his wives, daughter, and countless friends. To see that happen with his sister had been devastating, to say the least.

Yes, he now knew that Ayeka was alive, but many questions still occupied Katsuhito's mind. Had he apologized enough for hiding the fact that he was Yosho when she had first arrived on Earth? And what about the other secrets he had kept from her, ones that she still knew nothing about?

So many questions.

Ayeka had only been on Earth for a few years, which was really nothing, given a Juraian's lifespan. Katsuhito had thought that there would be plenty of time to tell her the truth. (Which truths? All of them? Or only certain ones? He had thought there was plenty of time to decide. Seeing Ayeka's pale, unmoving body had brought all that crashing down.)

So many questions.

Why was he going to Jurai? Had Ayeka's "death" given him such a strong need to see the rest of his family again?

Or, was it that he needed confirmation of what Ayeka had said in her farewell message, about him having been right to leave Jurai and its royal life? But ... he had never questioned that before. Why now?

"Oh, hi!" Mihoshi's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Are you looking out the window? It's such a nice view, isn't it? Is it okay if I look, too?"

Katsuhito turned around to look at the blond detective. She was holding out several little men and women made out of folded paper. "Look," she said, smiling excitedly, "Sasami taught me how to make birds out of paper last year ... well, they didn't come out right, but aren't they cute?"

Mihoshi sat down beside him, and Katsuhito wordlessly turned back to the window. Now Mihoshi was another puzzle. He had never been as interested in observing her as he had been in some of the other household members (mainly Tenchi, Sasami, Ayeka, and Ryoko), but she still made him curious. She had been deeply saddened by Ayeka's supposed death, but she rather quickly bounced back to her usual cheerful self once she knew that Ayeka was alive.

"Look at all those stars!" said Mihoshi, "Aren't they pretty?"

Katsuhito simply nodded.

Mihoshi leaned in closer to him and studied his face. "Are you okay?" she said, "You look like something is bothering you ... well, actually, your face doesn't look much different from the way it usually does, but I still get the feeling that something is bothering you ... um, does that make sense?"

Katsuhito didn't know why, but he suddenly opened his mouth and began to explain to her what was on his mind. Perhaps he felt more comfortable telling this to someone who wasn't connected to the Juraian royal family, perhaps it was just the strange feeling of being back in space, or perhaps it was the way Mihoshi looked at him like a puppy happily listening to its human companion. At any rate, he told her about some of the questions that were plaguing him (but only some of them), and how lonely he sometimes felt. It was unusual, highly unusual, for Katsuhito to open up so much to anyone. He wasn't even sure if Mihoshi was following what he was saying. He felt a bit ashamed for using Mihoshi like some sort of pet, but he did feel somewhat better voicing his concerns to someone, at any rate.

When he was done, Mihoshi lost the vacant, listening puppy look in her eyes, and nodded. "I know what you mean," she said, her eyes bright and clear, "Sometimes I have lots of questions, and I get confused about stuff. And when that happens, I want to find the answers, but sometimes I get scared, and that makes me more confused. And ... and I know what you mean about the loneliness thing, too."

Turning her head away from the questioning look on Katsuhito's face, she stared out the window, placed the little origami people on her lap, and said, "My first partner in the Galaxy Police was Yuri Mizutani. She was very pretty, and smart, and a good detective. She was also my best friend. We solved lots of cases, and when we weren't doing that, we were having fun at the karaoke bar. Once, we were trying to sing this really difficult song, and I guess we didn't do it very well, because the karaoke machine broke, and we both laughed, and then Mizutani did the funniest thing ... Oh, sorry, I'm getting off topic, aren't I? What was my topic again? Oh no, I forgot ... Ah! I remember now! I ... I was supposed to talk about loneliness..."

Mihoshi sighed and began to twist one of the paper dolls in her hands. Her voice became unusually soft and serious. "One day, we were on our way to Amano, Mizutani's home planet, for a vacation. But the planet's sun blew up, and I woke up in a hospital. My mother told me that ... sh-she told me that they were ... all dead. Amano was gone, and all the people were dead. All those people. All those happy children in the pictures of Amano's famous beaches that Mizutani had shown me. All gone. Mizutani was gone, too. I was the only one left after the explosion."

Mihoshi twisted the paper doll in her hands so hard that the paper ripped. She let go of the torn pieces of paper, and picked up another of the little dolls.

"After that," Mihoshi continued, "I worked alone for a while, but my grandfather eventually assigned me a new partner. That was Kiyone. I was so lucky to have a new partner who was also such a great detective and true friend.

"But one day," Mihoshi whispered, starting to rip the paper doll just like the last one, "When ... when we were on the case of an ultra-energy matter thief, Kiyone sacrificed herself to stop this criminal ... and that was the last I saw of Kiyone for a time. E-Even now, even though Kiyone is back, sometimes I have dreams about the people of Amano, and Mizutani, and Kiyone ... all dying. After that, I dream of waking up, only to find that everyone in the universe is gone, and I'm alone ... a-all alone..."

Katsuhito turned to look at Mihoshi, and his eyes widened when he saw that she had torn all of the little paper dolls except for one. Mihoshi stared at the last remaining paper doll in her lap, "All alone..." she whimpered, her falling tears darkening the paper figure. Mihoshi grabbed the last paper doll and wrung her hands. She was just about to tear it up when Katsuhito's hands shot out and rested on hers.

"Don't," was all he said.

Mihoshi dropped the paper doll and began to sob. Katsuhito put his arm around her. He had taken his sister for granted. He had quite obviously taken this good family friend for granted as well.

All the questions on Katsuhito's mind melted away for the time being. There was a friend who needed comforting. Right now, that was all that mattered. Taking one of the paper dolls that had been torn in half, he refolded both pieces into two new dolls. Mihoshi accepted the one he offered her, and managed a weak smile.

---

Ryoko and Tenchi left the onsen holding hands and laughing, still giddy from their little water fight. They had chased each other around the onsen, trying to splash each other and pull each other under the water. Ryoko's ability to fly and teleport had given her the advantage in the game, but Tenchi had still managed to dunk her every so often. Of course, Tenchi suspected that Ryoko had simply wanted to be caught those times. Not that he minded. In fact, the idea of holding her in his arms again sounded very good right about now. He put his arm around her...

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Ryoko exclaimed, pulling away and running off towards some bushes. This resulted in Tenchi being caught off balance and falling over. If Ryoko had bothered to turn around, she would have seen Tenchi in a very comical position on the ground with a very comical expression on his face.

By the time Tenchi caught up with her, he saw that she had discovered a picnic basket hidden in the bushes. Tenchi read the note that was attached to it: "There's plenty of food in here. Hope you like it! Also, don't worry about taking care of Mayuka today, the guardians and I will do that. Enjoy this day! And I really mean that, so don't show your faces around here again until dinner, otherwise I will be very disappointed in you! (Wink.) Love, Sasami."

Tenchi blinked. "We have got to make sure Sasami quits looking at Dad's manga collection!" he muttered.

"Oh, quit pretending you don't like it!" Ryoko laughed.

Tenchi grinned. "Come on, let's go find a nice spot for a picnic," he said, grabbing the picnic basket with one hand and leading Ryoko by the arm with the other.

Once they had found a large clearing in the woods, the two began to enjoy the wonderful food that Sasami had prepared. Sasami had obviously been practicing recipes that she had seen on American television shows; there was a plate full of adorable little finger sandwiches. Not typical breakfast food, but the sandwiches just looked too tasty to wait for lunchtime. Ryoko held out one of the finger sandwiches for Tenchi to eat.

Once he had eaten it, Tenchi took out another one and held it out for Ryoko to nibble on. A bit of jam came off onto Tenchi's finger, and Ryoko smiled and then licked it off him. Tenchi laughed at the tickling sensation from Ryoko's tongue.

Once they had their fill of little sandwiches, Tenchi searched the basket for some fruit. Finding a bunch of grapes, Tenchi took it out of the basket, then plucked off a grape and held it out for Ryoko.

When Ryoko leaned towards him to eat it, Tenchi suddenly shouted "Catch!", throwing the grape as far as he could. Laughing, Ryoko quickly flew into the air, opened her mouth, and caught it. "Not bad," said Tenchi, grinning as he took another grape and tossed it over his shoulder.

Ryoko teleported behind him and caught the grape between her lips, then winked as she sucked it into her mouth. "I see that Sasami isn't the only one who has been looking at a certain manga collection!" she said.

"But you like it, right?" said Tenchi, smiling.

"Oh yes," Ryoko said in a low voice, pressing herself against Tenchi's back and running her fingertips down his chest, "It's so ... playful." She giggled and stepped back, waiting for him to throw another grape.

Tenchi tossed the next grape back in forth between his two hands. Ryoko flew in very close to Tenchi, caught the grape in her mouth, and then floated in even closer so that she could kiss Tenchi on the forehead.

They went on like this for a while, until there was only one grape left. Tenchi closed his hand around it in a fist, then opened his hand to reveal that the grape was gone.

Ryoko blinked. "Where is it?" she asked.

"I'll give it to you ... on one condition," said Tenchi.

"What's that?"

"I want a kiss first," said Tenchi, grinning, "A long one."

"That's simple enough," Ryoko said, moving her face in closer to his. She pressed her lips against his, wrapped her arms around his back, and closed her eyes. _Heck, he doesn't need to hide grapes from me to make me want to do this!_ she thought to herself. Of course, this kind of playing WAS fun ... perhaps Nobuyuki's manga collection was good for something after all.

Ryoko's breath quickened when she felt Tenchi's mouth open. She opened her mouth to let his tongue in ... then, when his "tongue" completely came off into her mouth, she realized that it was the grape!

"Gotcha!" Tenchi laughed.

"Oh, you!" Ryoko giggled, swallowing the grape and giving Tenchi a light whap on the head, "How did you do that?"

"Dad used to do these silly magic tricks at parties," said Tenchi, still laughing, "I learned how to do a few of them."

Ryoko shook her head and laughed.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Tenchi said suddenly.

"What is it?" asked Ryoko.

"Do you know how to waltz?"

"Waltz?" said Ryoko, "No."

"I'll teach you, then," said Tenchi.

"I'd like that," said Ryoko, smiling warmly.

Ryoko mastered it rather quickly; it wasn't long before the two of them were waltzing effortlessly around the clearing.

"This is so nice," Ryoko sighed happily, "Where did you learn to dance like this, Tenchi?"

"Dad taught me when we were away for that fishing trip," said Tenchi, "We practiced in the cabin, and..."

Ryoko burst out laughing. Now that mental image was just too much! Tenchi and his father, alone in a cabin in the woods ... waltzing! Ryoko kept laughing until she had to let go of Tenchi to hold onto her sides, which were beginning to hurt from laughing so hard. Tenchi had a perplexed look on his face, then he suddenly said "Oh..." and laughed along with her.

Eventually, the two went back to waltzing, but Ryoko kept teasing Tenchi with comments like "So, did your father hold you close? Did he whisper sweet nothings into your ear?" This went on until Ryoko asked, "Did he give you kissing lessons too? Who's a better kisser, your father or me?"

"Definitely you," said Tenchi, grinning slyly before he pressed his lips against hers. He broke off the kiss and yelped in surprise when Ryoko suddenly levitated the both of them, so that they were dancing on air. She smiled reassuringly at him, and Tenchi calmed down and smiled back, but he held onto her a little tighter ... Which was exactly what Ryoko had been hoping for.

Ryoko began to hum, to provide some musical accompaniment. Tenchi recognized the tune easily: it was her song about stars and happy dreams.

"Ryoko, can I ask you something?"

"What is it, Tenchi?"

"I was just wondering ... where did you learn that song?"

"I made it up," Ryoko replied, "the words and the music ... I made them up."

"Really?" said Tenchi, amazed.

A bad memory whispered through the back of Ryoko's mind. She tried to push it away, but it turned to a roar that washed over her and made her shiver with cold. "Kagato loved music," Ryoko murmured, staring at the ground below, "He played music a lot..."

Ryoko brought them back down to the ground, and they stopped dancing. Ryoko stared at her feet. She knew that she should not think about it, but she could not help it. Perhaps it was the uneasy feeling that her nightmare had given her, but she could not stop herself from hearing music in her head ... organ music playing, while she lay on the floor, bleeding from the latest beating...

"I'm sorry, Ryoko," Tenchi said, taking her face in his hands, "I'm sorry."

Ryoko shook her head and blinked tears out of her eyes. "It's okay, Tenchi. You couldn't have known."

Tenchi gently and wordlessly wiped her tears away. Ryoko nodded her thanks and murmured, "I think I just want to sit for a while."

They sat on the ground near the picnic basket. Ryoko leaned against Tenchi, and he put his arm around her. She thought of those years spent trapped in the cave, alone in the dark. 700 years. The last seventeen of those years, when she had watched Tenchi grow up, were the ones that she had spent composing that song. Seventeen years of joy and sadness, and fondness that grew into love. Seventeen years of watching and wishing and longing all poured into that one song. She had been exposed to music for thousands of years, but had never written a song before. She had spent seventeen years getting it right. Seventeen years taking what she had learned from Kagato, and turning it into something good. Not just something that sounded good in terms of melody and lyrics, but something that reflected her soul, and that would hopefully reach the ears and touch the soul of the most special person she had ever known.

Now she was finally with Tenchi, and now she had shared that song with him, and he had sung it with her. No more darkness. Even her blindness was gone. So ... what was bothering her?

Ryoko's other sight was gone, that was it. The new sense that Tsunami and Ayeka had given her. The one that had allowed her to see beyond eyesight, to sense what was bothering Tenchi a few nights ago, when he had been disturbed by a nightmare that had quickly left his memory, but continued to disturb his heart. She felt as if something inside her was missing. Compared to the power she had been given during her blindness, sight seemed so ... limited. Besides, it was the last thing that her friend Ayeka had given her. Still, she knew that she had to count her blessings. She still had a voice to sing, and hands to hold Mayuka. She had her mother. She had ... she had this moment alone with Tenchi.

"I think we're going to have to disappoint Sasami a little," Ryoko whispered to Tenchi, "We're going to have to go back before dinnertime."

"I understand," Tenchi said softly, stroking Ryoko's hair before standing up, "If you want to go home now, that's fine-"

"No, no, it's not what you think," Ryoko laughed, "I still want to spend this day alone with you. It's just that I want to ask Sasami if she has any more grapes!"

Both laughed.

---

Ayeka saw that the tunnel she had been walking down stopped in a dead end. Telling herself to be patient, she stood quietly and waited for the Voice to have enough strength to tell her how to proceed. For the past few hours, the Voice had grown weaker, and its communications with her had become shorter and far less frequent. It was a sure sign that time was running out.

Worry and impatience crept into Ayeka's mind, and she soon found herself nervously pacing back and forth. Forcing herself to stop, she took a deep breath and then let it out. Pacing was no good; it would only increase her anxiety. She let her royal training take over, relaxing and composing herself as if in preparation for making an important speech. Funny that she should be using her royal training to prepare for leaving her old life behind.

It was when she had completely relaxed that she was finally able to sense the Voice again. Her nervousness had been drowning it out. The Voice was incredibly faint, and it had to repeat itself several times before Ayeka understood what she was supposed to do. Nodding, Ayeka walked over to the wall that was the tunnel's end. Placing her hands on it, she closed her eyes and imagined the wood becoming soft. Her tiara began to glow, warming her forehead slightly. Eventually, the wood under her hands also became warm. Opening her eyes, Ayeka saw that the entire wall had become transparent, so that the sea of golden liquid behind it was visible.

Ayeka pressed her hands harder against the wall. The wood, now as soft and yielding as gelatin, allowed her hands through, into the liquid. Nothing spilled out, though: the fluid stayed on its side. Flexing her fingers experimentally, Ayeka found that the golden substance was very thick, and warm as blood. She walked forward, so that her arms pushed all the way through into the wall's honeylike innards. Taking a deep breath, Ayeka then pushed her entire body past the wall, immersing herself completely. A sound traveled through the liquid to let her know that the wood behind her had become solid again. No turning back now.

The fluid was very thick indeed, too thick for swimming. Knowing that she didn't have much time before she needed to breathe again, Ayeka did her best to remain calm. It wouldn't do to come all this way just to drown, without having accomplished any of what needed to be done. She focused her thoughts on a single word: heat.

Her tiara glowed with an intense silver light.

Heat...

The glow spread to her entire body.

The liquid surrounding her began to grow hotter and hotter. Still not enough. She had to hurry. Gritting her teeth, Ayeka squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated. She could hear her immediate surroundings begin to bubble. Soon the sound became louder, as the heat spread to more and more of the golden sea. She was using her powers to protect herself from the intense heat, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so when she was beginning to feel lightheaded. She needed to breathe! Her concentration faltered, and she let out a scream as she felt the boiling fluid for a split second.

Scream?

Ayeka opened her eyes and took a breath. It had worked! She was able to breathe in the liquid. Not only that, but it had become considerably less thick, and Ayeka began to swim in the direction she had to go. This environment had recognized her power, and now welcomed her. The waters caressed her skin gently, healing the damage caused by the heat when her protection had failed for that brief moment.

_I am coming for you,_ Ayeka thought as she swam, _The time is near._

---

"The time is near. Princess Ayeka is coming, and she will finish you," the Voice whispered.

"She is of no consequence. I will claim the son of Tsunami, and the daughter of Washu will follow."

"Such overconfidence..." the Voice retorted. But it wavered as it did so.

"Listen to how weak you have become! You are in no position to frighten me. Already I have your physical form, I have your past, and it will not be long before your full powers are mine."

"..."

---

Ebb.  
Flow.  
Ebb.  
Flow.

Flowing tears. Tsunami's vision blurred as tears flowed freely from her eyes. She was listening not only to the waters of the Earth, but to Sasami's heartbeat as well. Oh, it is so very easy for a goddess to plan to create warriors for the horrible battles to come ... but not so easy to send those warriors off into battle when said goddess is gaining human emotions, is it? It was true. Slowly merging with Sasami had caused Tsunami to love all her children like she had never known love before. It was wonderful. But it hurt. Oh, did it ever hurt.

Tsunami was frightened ... so frightened ... and she had no one to share her fears with. For she would not scare Sasami by telling these things to her.

Tsunami had an older sister who had been human for a very long time, but she could not talk to her, could not ask her for advice. Washu did not remember ever having been a goddess or Tsunami's sister, and she would never remember, unless...

Tsunami sighed. Should she? It had been her plan all along to give Washu her memories back. But was it right? Was she also doing this to help Washu, or was it for selfish reasons and nothing else? Yes, Tsunami missed her older sister ... NEEDED her older sister, but besides that, didn't Washu have a right to know who she was? Or was she better off not knowing?

_There's no turning back now,_ Tsunami told herself sadly, _You knew that when you began to act on your plans._

It was true. To have gone this far ... it was too late for second thoughts. And deep down, she knew that it was the only way she could possibly have a chance at victory. But even that chance was a slim one, and the thought that this plan would fail, that Ayeka and others were going through such pain and hardship for nothing ... that they might die, with their efforts doing nothing to change the outcome that Tsunami was trying to prevent...

Tsunami shook her head. She knew that to do nothing would be even worse. If she had not formed this plan, then everything would be doomed for certain. Better to have a slim chance at stopping it, then no chance at all. Better to try to fight the darkness and fail, then stand by and do nothing while the darkness consumed all.

It was risky, but she had faith in her children, and their friends.

"Forgive me, Washu," Tsunami whispered to the air, "Please forgive me..."

Tsunami let her consciousness ride the sounds of the Earth's waters, allowing the tides to sweep her mind to the Masaki household, to focus on Sasami's heartbeat again. She could feel the heartbeat hovering protectively near the place where Sasami had hidden Ayekaken, the sword that had been created from the silver tree branch Ayeka had left behind...

Tsunami sighed. They were probably going to have to put that sword to use soon.

Next, she focused on Washu. "Please forgive me," Tsunami whispered once more.

---

A golden-haired woman lay on the floor, her face pale, her eyes closed, a thin line of bluish liquid trickling out of the corner of her mouth. Her hands clutched an open bottle that held more of the bluish liquid. Some of it had spilled out into a small puddle in front of her.

Bracing herself, Washu pressed a key on her computer. The image changed to that of the woman's brother, who had died by taking the same poison.

Washu sighed as she scratched at her hand yet again. She still had not seen a picture of her husband, or one of her son. While she was definitely not looking forward to finding them among these pictures, she felt the need for closure. Besides, she was also trying to find out if every member of the Mizutani line had indeed died there.

She went through still more pictures. As she did so, her computer kept a list of the people she saw, and compared them to records from the planet Amano. Nothing suspicious so far. Every one of the bodies she had seen was indeed a Mizutani. The pictures matched photos from Amano's records, and the fingerprints of the bodies also matched records.

A picture of three dead children came up, and Washu gasped and looked away. While they were all too old to be her son, it was still a very disturbing sight. What had driven the Mizutanis to do this?

The next picture was of a baby completely covered in a blanket, except for one pink hand that stuck out from under the wrap. Washu's heart froze, for she recognized the blanket as a quilt that she had made for her son. It felt like an eternity before Washu was able to bring herself to look at the caption below the picture. Sure enough, it was her son's name.

Washu buried her face in her hands, staying like that until her body began to shake so much that she was unable to stay on her floating cushion. She sank to the floor and lay there, sobbing.

So now she knew. Finally, she knew.

Her hand, the one that had been pierced by the splinter, gave an involuntary twitch, causing her to gasp and sit up.

_Look again,_ a voice seemed to whisper in the back of her mind, _Look again._

The trembling left her body. Slowly, hesitantly, Washu sat down in front of her computer again, and saw that the picture said "Photo 1 of 2". Pressing a key, the second picture came up. In this picture, the quilt had been removed, revealing the baby's round face, his curly blond hair, his lifeless blue eyes staring at the camera.

Blue? But her son's eyes were green! "It's not him..." Washu whispered to herself. Had another baby died in her son's place? And if so, why? Not only that, but why hadn't the police noticed?

Washu checked the name of the police officer who had written the report. A detective Hajime Kobayashi. Kobayashi was the same family name that Mihoshi's old partner Yuri had used, before changing it to Mizutani.

It seemed highly unlikely that it was mere coincidence.

Washu stared uncertainly at her computer. Should she search through the rest of the pictures for her husband, or try to find out more about this Hajime Kobayashi?

It turned out that Washu ended up doing neither.

The itching on Washu's hand suddenly turned into a sharp pain, which was mirrored by a throbbing in her skull. She let out an anguished shout and collapsed to the floor, seeing stars as if something had struck her in the head. There was a roaring sensation in her ears, like an approaching rush of water. What was happening to her? Alarmed, she tried to call out to her daughter's mind for help, but found herself blocked somehow.

The pain subsided after a few moments, as Washu's hand began to feel unusually warm. Raising her hand in front of her face, Washu looked at the spot where the splinter from Ayeka's silver tree branch had pierced her, and saw a tiny droplet of blood appear. Upon coming into contact with the air, the little drop changed from red to silver.

"I understand," Washu murmured, a strange smile forming on her lips. She closed her eyes, then reopened them to find herself floating along the mysterious waters of a forgotten past. She stretched and sighed as wave after wave of returning memories washed over her ... being a goddess, the powers she forgot that she had, her sisters ... intoxicated by this relearned knowledge and eager for more, she tried to dive into the next wave of approaching memories. But this next set of memories was much darker and harsher than the others had been, and she became overwhelmed, sinking into the cold dark sea of sadness and pain that she had forgotten. Tokimi ... How could this have happened? Washu wanted to scream, but she could not stop herself from sinking further into the cold dark waters.

A hand as delicate as a moonbeam and powerful as a Light Hawk Wing slowed the progression of this wave of memory, allowing Washu to resurface and breathe.

"Go slowly," a female voice advised, "Some of it is not easy to accept."

"Tsunami..." Washu whispered, recognizing the voice, "Sister."

Sasami materialized, swimming beside Washu. "Tsunami asked me to help you through this," the young girl explained.

Washu nodded gratefully, just as another wave came at her. Tsunami was right; some of the past was not easy to accept at all. But whenever she felt herself sinking, Sasami would pull her up and help her to stay afloat. Whenever it became too painful, Sasami would hold her until she was ready to continue.

Eventually, the two of them washed up onto a warm beach that dried them instantly. It was over. She remembered her life as a goddess, the bad with the good. Washu sighed and wiped tears away.

"I'm sorry, Washu," Sasami said softly.

Washu managed to rest a reassuring hand upon Sasami's head, despite the storm of sadness and turmoil and anger within her. Anger at what, she didn't know. Exhausted, Washu sighed again, and closed her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them, she found herself back in her lab. Glancing at her body, she saw that she was now in her adult form. Sasami was lying next to her, fast asleep.

"Thank you," Washu whispered to the girl, before she also fell asleep.

The report on the deaths of the Mizutanis remained on Washu's computer, ignored. However, a few minutes later, the report was replaced by a reading that the computer had gotten from one of the many devices that Washu had scanning the universe. Washu's other machines excitedly took in this new data, adding to the flowing streams of numbers that raced across their monitors. In the Amano system, something incredible and inexplicable had happened. It was something that demanded the immediate attention of the machines' creator.

D3, the sun that had exploded and destroyed the planet Amano, had inexplicably returned, now a sun without a planet. But neither Washu nor Sasami awoke, and eventually the report was replaced by the computer's screensaver. While the machines continued with their analysis, miniature red crabs walked across Washu's computer screen, watching over the sleeping pair.

---

Ryoko and Tenchi took a long walk, enjoying the beauty of the forest in summer. As they began to walk up the steps that led to the shrine, Ryoko reached into the picnic basket and took out a small bottle of liquid.

"What's that?" Tenchi asked. He then noticed that a note and two plastic wands for blowing bubbles were strapped to the bottle.

Ryoko read the note, "I thought you two might have some fun with this. It's perfumed bubble mixture from Jurai: it smells like Startica Bells. Love, Sasami."

Tenchi opened the bottle and sniffed. "So that's what Startica Bells smell like," he said, "Very nice."

Ryoko dipped one of the plastic wands into the mixture and blew through the loop on the wand. Pearly bubbles came out and danced on the light breeze, colors swirling on their clear surfaces. Finally, they all popped except for one.

The last remaining bubble floated towards Tenchi. He moved to the side a bit, but the breeze moved the bubble so that it was still heading towards him. "This one's coming on to me," he said jokingly.

Ryoko pouted in mock jealousy and popped the bubble with her finger. Tenchi laughed and dipped the other plastic wand into the bubble mixture. He waved his arm and watched the bubbles that flew out.

Ryoko smiled and closed her eyes. To Tenchi's amazement, the bubbles began to fly together, merging to create one large bubble about the size of a beach ball. The gem on Ryoko's wrist began to glow, and reddish sparks of energy appeared in the air. The sparks eased themselves into the large bubble, pushing through its surface without popping it. While shades of blue and purple chased each other on the bubble's exterior, the reddish sparks danced inside the sphere, like fireflies in a glass globe. Tenchi stared at Ryoko's creation, entranced.

"You and your father aren't the only ones who can do magic tricks," Ryoko laughed, delighted at the expression of wonder on Tenchi's face. Concentrating, Ryoko made the bubble float towards Tenchi's hands.

Without thinking, Tenchi raised his hands to catch the orb. It popped, and the sparks of energy were released. Ryoko laughed and waved her hand. The sparks paired up and began to swirl in time to some unheard melody, giving the impression that they were dancing. Ryoko flew into the air, and the sparks danced all around her.

Tenchi applauded, and Ryoko landed considerably further up the steps and took a bow. Somehow it appeared as if the sparks were taking a bow as well. "And now, for my next trick," Ryoko said in a dramatically loud voice, grinning down at Tenchi, "Take out your opera glasses and watch with amazement as I-"

But Ryoko never finished that sentence, for everything suddenly went dark. The sparks of energy she had created vanished like snuffed out candle flames. Ryoko looked around, but not a single thing was visible. _What's happening? Am I blind again?_ Ryoko wondered.

"Ryoko? Where are you? Are you alright?" Tenchi's voice called through the darkness, "I can't see you!"

"I'm okay!" Ryoko called out. She tried to sound calm, but a shiver went down her spine. If it was dark for Tenchi as well, then it was not that her blindness had returned. What was going on? A vague memory returned to her of the nightmare she had had before awakening, where she had been lost in the dark while Tenchi had been in danger. She nervously bit her lip and shivered again, but this time the shivering was from cold. She could no longer feel the sun.

_Mom?_ Ryoko called out to Washu's mind, _Is this one of your experiments?_ Ryoko's mental voice ran against a wall. Something was blocking her. Ryoko stiffened, as if the darkness were constricting around her. "Tenchi?" Ryoko asked, her voice shaky with fear.

She was about to fly down the stairs to find him when she heard rustling sounds behind her. Frowning, she whirled around, creating her energy sword as she did so. The sword's light was swallowed by the darkness, but she could feel its reassuring presence in her hand, hear its familiar hum as she shifted her weight slightly.

The rustling noise returned, much louder this time, and accompanied by similar sounds coming from the left and right of her. Ryoko tensed, trying to figure out from which direction the first attack might come. The sounds became louder and more menacing, as if growing stronger when they responded to each other. Whatever was making those sounds, they were closing in.

"Tenchi!" she shouted.

Moments later, they swarmed in hungrily.

---

Tenchi heard Ryoko call his name, but her voice was strangely faint, as if she were shouting from behind a wall. "Ryoko?" he called.

No response.

"Ryoko?" Tenchi cautiously began to move up the steps in the darkness, but stopped at a sudden rustling noise beginning to come from somewhere in front of him. "Who's there?" he asked. The only response was the rustling becoming louder, closer. That was when Tenchi suddenly felt something clawed and scaly grab his arm. "Ryoko!" he shouted again. The Light Hawk Sword flared to life in Tenchi's hand, but was extinguished only a heartbeat later. It was like being in the Dimension of Darkness.

Luckily, that split second had been enough for the Light Hawk Sword to free Tenchi from his attacker. As the unseen menace hissed in pain, Tenchi quickly backed down a few steps, nearly tumbling down the stairs in his haste. Catching his balance, he grimaced as he pulled the creature's severed claw off his arm.

There was a rush of air as the attacker recovered and lunged towards Tenchi. Knowing that in the darkness he might fall down the stairs if he leapt back, Tenchi quickly moved to the side instead. He came up against a large rock, and scrambled behind it. He wasn't sure if the creature was able to see in the darkness, but even if it could, the rock might still provide some protection.

But he still didn't know what was happening to Ryoko.

He couldn't stay there.

Staying close to the side of the stairs so as not to lose his way, Tenchi began to dash up the side of the hill. It was not long before there was a sound of stone being smashed behind him. He ran faster, shouting Ryoko's name. Still no response.

Something snaked tightly around his waist and yanked him back. Tenchi grunted and thrust his elbow into the creature, hoping to make it let go. There was a squishing sound, and Tenchi gasped as his first his elbow, and then the rest of his arm, was swallowed into the creature's flesh. It was absorbing him!

"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted. His voice echoed back mockingly at him.

A claw roughly shoved him from the front. Another creature. Tenchi kicked at the second creature, but it grabbed his foot with another of its claws. Caught off balance, Tenchi fell back into the first creature, whose hungry flesh continued to absorb him eagerly. The second creature shoved him again, this time with about a dozen claws, pushing him further in.

Tenchi managed one last scream before he was completely thrust into thick fluid. He pushed against the walls of flesh around him, but they were no longer soft enough to break through. Worse, he realized after a few moments that they were constricting. He tried again to break free, but they pulled around him, squeezing so tightly that he let out the breath he had been holding.

But once he had exhaled, the creature's flesh relaxed its hold on him, and he gasped. That was when he realized that he could breathe in the liquid. Space inside the creature was still cramped enough that he was forced to remain curled up in a ball, but at least he was able to breathe.

The creature's body began to sway, probably because it was on the move. There was also a faint pulsing sensation coming from somewhere, almost like a heartbeat. It was eerie, and yet strangely calming, almost hypnotic. The fluid was very warm. Tenchi could feel his mind wandering, no matter how hard he tried to stay focused on escape. What was this creature doing to him? He tried to shake off an increasingly overwhelming urge to sleep, but it was a struggle that he was losing.

_Ryoko! Remember Ryoko!_

Tenchi shook himself and tried once more to push his way out, but the flesh constricted around him and squeezed painfully until he stopped resisting. Struggling to catch his breath, it took Tenchi several minutes before he noticed that the fluid now had an oddly sweet smell to it. Sleep beckoned once more, even more powerfully this time. The fluid was so warm...

"You are mine, child of Tsunami," a voice whispered in Tenchi's mind as his eyes fell closed.

---

"Such pleasant weather," Azaka commented.

"Another beautiful summer day," Kamidake agreed.

The two guardians were taking Mayuka out for a stroll. She was happily floating between the logs, in a protective field that they were generating. The guardians were very happy that Ayeka had assigned them to protect Mayuka, since it had given Sasami the idea to send them out for walks with her. It allowed them to move around and really enjoy the sights, rather than stay posted at the same spot outside the house all the time.

The logs floated through the woods, making their way towards the shrine steps. Mayuka cooed in contentment, and the guardians could not help but let out happy sighs of agreement. Every flower and blade of grass appeared outlined in a halo of sunlight, and the songbirds sounded particularly beautiful on this day, almost angelic.

"Did you say something, Azaka?" asked Kamidake.

"No," Azaka replied.

"That's odd, I thought I heard someone whispering to me..." Kamidake was cut off when a cold feeling suddenly washed over the three companions, and the world turned dark for all of them.

---

Ryoko cursed as her sword vanished and she found that she could no longer fly, just as another wave of creatures could be heard charging in. Her powers were draining even more rapidly than when she had been in the Dimension of Darkness. And the creatures had come for Tenchi, she could feel it.

Dodging a set of claws, Ryoko grabbed at the limb of another creature and twisted it so that it was right in the path of the incoming claws. There was a loud snapping sound, and then a howl of pain as the claws of one creature slashed off the limb of the other. She had to get to Tenchi before it was too late. She thrust the severed limb, claws first, at one of the creatures. To her surprise, the flesh of this creature was very yielding, and she managed to thrust the limb right into the creature, and keep pushing. Ryoko's hands became scraped from gripping and pushing the scaly limb so hard, but she ignored the pain and pushed harder, even as thick fluid oozed out of the creature and ran all the way down her arms, causing her skinned palms to sting.

The creature bellowed and attempted to shake her off, but Ryoko held fast, even as her feet left the ground. Her feet soon came up against the side of another creature, and Ryoko took advantage of the position by shoving her full weight against the limb, pushing it further into the creature until its wild thrashing ceased. Leaping to the top of the unmoving creature, Ryoko reached out into the darkness, found a tree branch, and climbed onto it.

Thanks to her training with Mihoshi during her blindness, Ryoko knew the feel of these treetops well. Downhill was ... that way. She leapt from treetop to treetop, as the enraged creatures searched the stairs for her. Their rustling rose to a nearly deafening roar.

"Tenchi!" Ryoko shouted over the clamor, hoping for a response. Her voice echoed back at her. An echo, at the shrine steps? What was going on?

Calling out had been a mistake. The charging creatures streamed down to her tree at an insane speed, knocking it down. Ryoko cried out as she and the tree spilled to the earth below, branches scraping her from all sides. Her shin banged against the trunk of the tree, sending pain shooting up her leg when she hit the ground. Just her luck that her healing ability wasn't working either. Still, it was better than if she had fallen onto the stairs. Unable to untangle herself from the branches fast enough to get away, Ryoko grabbed a branch and pulled it back, releasing it when she could feel the first creature's breath upon her. The branch snapped up and struck the creature, giving Ryoko some small satisfaction before the other creatures yanked her out of the branches and pinned her to the ground.

She tried to break free, but she could not escape from so many of them. They held her down, claws pressing her from all sides, but did nothing else. Tenchi was being taken away, she could feel it. They were stopping her from trying to go after him.

"No!" she shouted.

---

An alarm sounded somewhere in the lab, and Washu awoke with a start. Sasami, already awake, grabbed Washu's arm and tugged at it urgently until she stood up.

"Come on, Washu, we have to go!" said Sasami, "Tsunami is telling me that it's started!"

"What has started?" asked Washu, stumbling over to her computer to investigate the source of the alarm. Grogginess made it difficult to adjust to running in her adult body. Her eyes widened when she saw the emergency message displayed on the computer screen. "Something has happened to Azaka and Kamidake! They were with Mayuka near the shrine steps when they suddenly switched off!"

Sasami nodded. "I know, and that's why we have to go! You go get Tenchi's father, while I get the Tenchiken!" she said, running towards the door leading out of the lab, "Meet me at the front gate, and I'll explain what I can on the way!"

---

Held down by claws. Held down by cold. Held down by darkness. Torn apart by fear. By nightmares. By helplessness.

Ryoko was trapped in the cave, unable to comfort Tenchi after his mother's passing...

...Imprisoned by Kagato, watching helplessly as Ryu-Oh was destroyed with Tenchi on board...

...In the Dimension of Darkness, her powers fading, unable to help Tenchi as Yuzuha tried to kill him...

"NO!" Ryoko shook her head violently. "Stop making me remember! Just let Tenchi go!" But somehow she knew that Tenchi had already been taken away. She was too late. There was nothing she could do.

She had failed to protect him again.

Ryoko could sense something else, too ... a familiar presence, someone she loved dearly, but someone other than Tenchi. Who was it? Who?

She forced herself to calm down. The creatures holding her had not ceased their constant rustling, so she had to strain her ears before she could hear it: the sound of a baby girl crying.

Mayuka! Mayuka was trapped in the darkness somewhere!

Ryoko tried once more to move, and the creatures pushed down on her so forcefully that she screamed.

Her powers were drained. Everything she had practiced with Mihoshi was useless, because she could not move.

"Ayeka!" Ryoko cried, "Ayeka! Help!"

Something soft and delicate touched her hand.

"Why do you ask for me, Miss Ryoko?" she thought she heard Ayeka's voice say, "You have power."

What power?

The power that Tsunami and Ayeka had given her? But it was gone. Ryoko had gained her sight back, and that power had disappeared.

Hadn't it?

Mayuka cried out again, and Ryoko focused on that cry. Not on how dark it was, not on her discomfort, not even on what had happened to Tenchi. She let Mayuka's cry fill her ears, and focused on nothing else. Mayuka. So little and so precious...

"I'm coming, Mayuka," Ryoko whispered. Her lower lip quivered, but she bit down on it and kept concentrating. Tears spilled from her eyes, but she closed them. "I'm coming," she whispered again, her voice trembling.

She fell silent, not panicking, not trying to force anything, not even thinking, except letting Mayuka's cry reach into her...

And then, something within her responded. A whisper at first, and then a roar, like a lioness rushing to protect her cub. The world lit up before her eyes again.

Trees. The creatures were trees, walking on their roots. Their scales were bark, their clawed limbs were branches. Many of them had rotted in places, which explained how some of them had such weak flesh. Fluid - sap, she realized - flowed from their open wounds.

Tapping into her power, she tried to fling their clawed branches off, but nothing happened. Remembering Ayeka's lesson to her about the different songs of water, Ryoko realized that a different tactic might be necessary. Reaching out with her power, the same power she had used a few days ago to ease Tenchi's pounding heart after a nightmare, she began to slow down the pulsing she felt within each of the tree-creatures. She slowed them down, lulled them to sleep, caused their roots to enter the ground and stay there. Now free to stand, Ryoko did so. The soft delicate thing that had touched her hand before, a butterfly, took to the air and directed Ryoko's gaze to Azaka and Kamidake.

She hurried to the fallen Azaka and Kamidake, pushing them aside to free Mayuka, who had been trapped between them, but was not hurt. Hugging the baby close to her, Ryoko shook the two guardians, but they did not respond. Best guess was that they had simply chosen the wrong time to visit the shrine steps.

"I'm here, Mayuka, I'm here..." Ryoko whispered, sitting down on the ground and continuing to hold the baby close. "I'm here."

But Tenchi was not. They had taken him away.

Ryoko choked back a sob. "I'm here..." she said to Mayuka again, "And I'm going to find your daddy." Exhaustion overcame her, though, and she sank to the ground, unable to move. But she kept a protective arm around Mayuka.

---

Washu, Sasami, and Nobuyuki waited anxiously outside the dark dome that had covered part of the shrine steps.

"Ryoko is trapped inside," Sasami explained, "The one responsible for Tenchi's abduction hopes to come back for Ryoko later. But if Ryoko can understand her new power, she can free herself from the dark prison. Mayuka's presence will help, I think."

Washu nodded, although Sasami was practically speaking in riddles. _It must be Tsunami talking through her,_ she thought, _Like when we found Ayeka's body. I wonder what has my sister so occupied this time that she can't materialize?_

The dark dome collapsed, and the trio gasped as they saw what had been left behind. The stairs were broken in some places, and huge trees were covering many of the steps there as well. By the side of the stairs, they found a half-conscious Ryoko clinging to Mayuka. Silver raced past Ryoko's irises, then disappeared, leaving her eyes in their normal golden color. Ryoko then closed her eyes, and Washu sighed.

---

Ayeka swam until she reached a portal. Entering this portal, she was transported to a tank filled with greenish-gold water. Peering through the glass, she could see that she was in the center of a large room. Shelves of books, tucked in between gigantic tree roots, made up the walls. Christmas decorations left by Yuzuha were still up. Looking upwards, Ayeka could see through the surface of the liquid to the ceiling above, including the glass that Ryoko had smashed through to carry Tenchi and Sasami away from Yuzuha. That meant that the Tree of Darkness was up there.

She was directly below the Tree of Darkness, swimming in the tank where Mayuka had been created. This was a place of power.

Ryoko had rediscovered her new power. And Tenchi was above her right now. Ayeka longed to go to him, but she knew that it was not the way. She wasn't the one to save him.

For now, all she could do was wait, and gather the strength she needed for what was to come next.

---

Soon, very soon now.

In a large cavern with walls made of dark wood twisted together, water rippled around a small island. The island was in fact made of large tree roots. Small waves licked at these roots, giving the appearance of tongues longing for the taste of a power that was no longer there. Once, the Tree of Darkness had proudly stood here. All that was left of it now was a large rotting stump. But that would soon change.

The waves rose slightly higher as someone materialized on the island, kneeling by the prize that had recently been left for her there: Tenchi Masaki, the most powerful child of Tsunami. She smiled as she stroked the unconscious Tenchi's hair. "I don't love you," she whispered into his ear, repeating the words she had said to him in a dream that she had sent, "But I love the devoted son that you will soon become..."

Tenchi moaned softly and began to stir. The water around the roots rose and fell excitedly, the waves growing stronger.

The being smiled again. "I shall free you from Tsunami," she whispered. She transformed, taking on the form of Achika Masaki, but kept her blue-tinged eyes and purple claws.

"Ryoko..." Tenchi moaned in his sleep.

"I did not have enough power to bring you both," the being whispered to Tenchi, "But do not worry. The child of Washu will come to us, because of her love for you. She will join us, and we will be unstoppable."

Tenchi stirred slightly again. His eyelids fluttered, but fell closed again.

"Your blood remembers this realm, I see," she purred, "Your blood remembers this realm where you..." she suddenly scowled and raised her claws above his head, "...killed my daughter Yuzuha!" She traced a clawed finger along the side of Tenchi's neck. She could kill him so easily right now ... but that was not her intent. No, she would have her revenge against Tsunami and Washu by claiming their most powerful children as her own.

Shoving his limp form against the tree stump, she turned Tenchi's hands palm upward. Two of the tree stump's smaller roots pulled themselves out of the water and placed themselves above his wrists.

With an almost tender smile she kissed him on the cheek, and at that moment the roots plunged into Tenchi's wrists.

---

It was a strange feeling for Kiyone to be back in deep space again. Gazing at the star-filled sea of purple and black outside her window, she leaned back in the pilot's chair of the Masami tTAN and sighed. The chair squeaked in a way that did not sound good to her. Darn ship was practically new, and it was already making weird noises! Kiyone reached down to try and find which part of the chair was making the sound, and her hand encountered Mihoshi's rubber ducky, which had somehow become wedged under the seat. Oh, so that was it! Despite her mood, Kiyone could not help but chuckle.

The last time she had been in deep space had been her trip to Earth to reunite with Mihoshi and join the Masaki household. But that was not the reason why it felt strange to be back in space. The reason was the very long time she had spent in deep space before that, when she had been left stranded on the wreck of a mad scientist's creation after a little ... accident while she and Mihoshi had been on the trail of an ultra-energy matter thief.

She had been left for dead in the middle of nowhere, and her only protection from cold, airless outer space had been some kind of energy shield that she couldn't even see... Not dead yet, but with the chances of rescue being so slim, there were times when she had thought that she might as well be. The food supply she had found was fairly large, but not endless (perhaps enough to last a year), and there was no telling if the air exchanger might fail, or even the shield itself.

During the first few days of that ordeal, the emotion she had felt the most had been anger, mostly expressed by shouting out at the stars "Mihoshi! I swear, I will kill you!". After a while, it had been replaced with self-pity. Something in the life of Kiyone Makibi going totally wrong ... again. Eventually, though, all that was replaced by loneliness. She had told herself that she would give anything to see her friend and partner Mihoshi again. Or anyone, for that matter.

Not that she had made many friends besides Mihoshi.

She had been so driven to succeed in her career, that she had ignored almost everything else in life. Still, when one was trapped in the middle of deep space, one would be happy to see almost anyone. She would have been happy to see a stranger.

Depression and loneliness had settled in, becoming so overwhelming that she had stopped eating, and simply spent most of her time sleeping. Whenever she had awakened, she had simply cried until she fell asleep again. Sleep was the only way she knew how to escape from the situation... Until her final day there, when she had opened her eyes and had had a hallucination of a woman talking to her.

Kiyone squeezed Mihoshi's rubber ducky in her hands as she tried to remember the woman she had seen. It was a moment that Kiyone did not recall very well (and one that she usually did not like to think about, anyway), but for some reason it suddenly felt very important that she remember it...

She had found the woman to be very beautiful, but now she couldn't remember exactly what she had looked like ... a glowing white figure who had smelled like Juraian flowers - more specifically, Royal Teardrops and Startica Bells - but other than that, the memory was too hazy.

"Do you hate Mihoshi?" the woman had said.

"No," Kiyone had replied softly.

"Do you miss her?"

"Yes."

"I am glad," the woman had said, placing a glowing white hand onto Kiyone's forehead, "I am going to tell you certain words, and when the time is right you will remember them. You must make sure that you pass them on to Mihoshi..."

Kiyone gasped and dropped the rubber ducky. Good grief, she had never remembered that part before! She had remembered the apparition speaking to her, but not the actual words that had been said. Why had it come back to her now?

Wait a minute...

"Kiyone, I am glad to have known you," Ayeka had said in her farewell message, "The conversations I had with you in the garden will always be among my most treasured memories. Now, please listen carefully ... one day, you will remember certain words, and you must make sure that you pass them on to Mihoshi."

"I don't believe this," Kiyone whispered to herself. The apparition had been real! But what did all this mean? Kiyone tried to remember what it was that she was supposed to tell Mihoshi, but the words would not come to her. She sighed in exasperation and rubbed her temples. She stopped when her fingertips brushed against her red headband. Her father's headband. Well, at least her memories of what had happened after the apparition were clearer...

When she had next awakened, she had found herself aboard the Jared Possum, a ship belonging to a bounty hunter called Jaf. Luckily for Kiyone, Jaf's hobby was searching remote areas of space for treasure.

"Such pretty eyes!" Jaf had said once he had noticed that Kiyone was awake, "What a treasure you are! Normally I'd charge a fee for your rescue, but I'm willing to forget about that if you'd go out on a date with me..."

At any rate, after Kiyone had taken out her wallet and paid Jaf (Come on! What were you expecting?), he had dropped her off at the Galaxy Police headquarters. To say that they had been surprised to see her would be an understatement. She had decided not to go back to work right away, though. She had spent about a year after her rescue resting and recovering.

She had also visited her tombstone.

What had gone through her father's mind as he had stood there, saying his final goodbye to his daughter, not realizing that she was in fact still alive? Kiyone was unable to ask him, though, for he had died shortly after and been buried right beside her "grave".

He had been the only family that Kiyone had ever known. As she had gazed at the two graves through tear-filled eyes, her hand had instinctively reached up to touch the red headband she always wore. Among her people, it was traditional for parents to give their headbands to their children to show that they were proud of them. Her father had given her his headband to wear when she had graduated from the Galaxy Police Academy.

"Kiyone Makibi, beloved daughter and friend", the inscription on her tombstone had said. Below that had been what appeared to be a series of random designs carved into the stone. Kiyone had recognized them: when she was a little girl, one of the games her father had played with her had been to exchange secret messages using a written code that he had created.

The coded message on her tombstone had said: "Kiyone, I will always love you. I will always be proud of you. You always placed others before yourself, and dedicated your life to helping people."

Kiyone had dropped to her knees and cried until her strength was gone. Dedicated her life to helping people ... the truth was that she hadn't. Actually, she had, but had she done so enough? Probably not. After a while, the career itself had become more important to her than the act of helping. Mihoshi, on the other hand, had never lost sight of that. That was why Mihoshi had turned down so many promotions in the past, before her mind had ... changed. Mihoshi had always preferred helping people directly, rather than working behind a desk. In fact, she still did.

Never before had Kiyone ever felt so unworthy of praise. Never before had she understood Mihoshi as clearly as she did on that day.

That was why, upon returning to work, Kiyone had turned down a promotion and asked to be partnered with Mihoshi again. Once, there was a time when Kiyone had thought that the last thing she'd ever choose would be to turn down a promotion to be with Mihoshi. But now it made perfect sense to her. It felt right. And it felt good.

Her assignment to help Mihoshi watch over the Juraian royals on Earth had turned out to be even more satisfying than she had expected. She had wonderful new friends - no, a wonderful new family - and was also learning a great deal as Washu's lab assistant. Add all that to the fact that Kiyone was now closer to her friend Mihoshi than she had ever been before, and she knew that her choice had been the right one. No longer did she fear that wearing her father's headband was like living a lie.

Oh, she still considered accepting a promotion someday, but for now, she was happy. And even if she did move on to a rank where she sat behind a desk, she would still be helping other officers to help people. The most important thing was not what position she held in the Galaxy Police, but WHY she was in that position. So long as she never again lost sight of what her job stood for, she knew that she was making her father proud.

Speaking of which, what the heck was she doing sitting alone in the pilot's area of the Masami tTAN when her friends were in another part of the ship? Carefully setting the autopilot, Kiyone got up from her seat and went to look for Mihoshi and the others. As if the death of her father hadn't been enough, then surely Ayeka's departure was a reminder to Kiyone that nothing stayed the same forever. Best that everyone enjoy what time they had together. Other concerns could wait for now.

She found Mihoshi, Katsuhito, and Ryo-Oh-Ki (in her humanoid toddler form) sitting around a table, folding paper into various shapes.

"Hi Kiyone!" Mihoshi said upon noticing her partner, "Tenchi's grandfather is giving us an origami lesson! Here, I'll show you how to make a butterfly..."

Mihoshi made a number of folds in the square of paper that she held, until she had made a little paper doll of a woman with spiky hair and a tail. "Oops, that's not right..."

Next, she made a little paper cabbit. "Oh wait, that's still not it..."

Kiyone laughed. "Make room for me," she said, sitting down beside Mihoshi and taking a square of paper to fold, "I don't want to miss anything."

"Oh, now what did I do wrong?" said Mihoshi, blinking in bafflement at a paper carrot that she had just made.

"Not wrong. It look good," said Ryo-Oh-Ki.

"It looks good to me, too," said Kiyone, laughing and patting Mihoshi on the shoulder. As she had hoped, Mihoshi smiled.

---

Tenchi found himself standing in darkness. He could not move, and his powers were not working, so he simply stood there, alone in the darkness. Darkness surrounding him, darkness filling him, darkness inside of him. Cold, dark emptiness pushing every thought out of his mind except fear...

Until a woman stepped out of the shadows.

It was Ryoko, wearing a dress of red velvet that flowed gracefully over the curves of her supple form, the skirt rippling with her every movement as she walked towards him. Her matching red shoes were buckled by gold ornaments shaped like rosebuds, while a gold broach that looked like a rose in full bloom rested on her shoulder. Red velvet gloves covered her arms from fingertip to elbow, their touch as soft as rose petals on Tenchi's cheek as Ryoko began to caress his face with one hand.

Under Ryoko's gentle touch, Tenchi found himself able to move again. He sighed with relief and pulled her closer to him in a tight embrace. "You saved me..." he whispered, before she pressed her soft lips against his. He closed his eyes and continued to hold her, taking in her warmth, and the faint scent of roses coming from her hair.

Eventually, their lips parted, and he opened his eyes.

Ryoko slipped out his embrace. She was crying.

"What's wrong?" Tenchi asked. He reached out for her, but she stepped away. Ryoko gestured towards the gold rose broach at her shoulder. As Tenchi's gaze fell upon it, gold turned to red. Had it become a real rose? How?

Taking a step forward, Tenchi saw that it was not a rose, but a rolled-up red ribbon, made of the same velvet as Ryoko's dress. The ribbon began to unwind itself, slowly unraveling to the dark floor below. Tenchi looked up at Ryoko, but immediately forgot any questions he was about to ask when her dress suddenly began to unravel like the ribbon. Ribbons of velvet fluttered away from her breasts, slid past her arms, fell down to the floor. Tenchi felt his cheeks grow hot, but Ryoko ignored this and turned around, gesturing towards her back.

It was covered in bruises, where Tenchi's arms had been when they had embraced. "Ryoko!" Tenchi gasped.

Ryoko then turned around to face him again. Scraps of her dress were still in place, slowly sliding off her body, and the ribbon at her shoulder was still unraveling. No ... Not a ribbon, but blood! It was no longer a ribbon falling to the floor, but blood pouring off Ryoko's shoulder, although there was no wound. To his horror, Tenchi saw that Ryoko's dress was turning into a pool of blood on the floor ... and Ryoko was sinking into it.

"Ryoko!" he shouted, leaping forward.

Ryoko simply stared at him, a vacant look in her eyes, and with one rapid tug the pool of blood pulled Ryoko in completely.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi frantically attempted to reach into the pool and pull her out, but it turned out to be only a few millimeters deep. What was going on? Someone suddenly knelt at the other side of the red pool, and Tenchi looked up and saw his mother beginning to scrub at the blood, her lavender kimono growing dark as it became soaked with it.

Tenchi's eyes widened with recognition. This was a variation of his recurring nightmare.

Colors began to swirl inside the blood. This wasn't a usual part of the dream. Tenchi stared in horrified fascination as the colors came together into an image of Kagato and Ryoko. They were yelling at each other. Ryoko shouted in defiance of Kagato's newest order. She took a swing at him with her sword, but he cut her powers off from her and struck her. She recovered and attempted to punch him, but he grabbed her arm, then picked her up and threw her through a glass table.

Tenchi watched helplessly as he saw Ryoko lying on the floor bleeding from numerous cuts, and Kagato saying something about this being an interesting way to observe how well her self-healing ability worked. He turned on a camera and left the room. Moments later, music could be heard coming from outside the room, as Kagato played the organ. He had casually left to play the organ!

"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted, his fingertips turning white as he pressed his hands against the floor in frustrated helplessness. The scene continued to play before him, Ryoko bleeding as Kagato played his music ... why wasn't she healing yet?

"No more," Ryoko whispered hoarsely, her voice barely audible over the organ music. She closed her eyes.

Oh no.

She was holding back. She was trying to die.

"NO!!!" Tenchi screamed.

But then Ryo-Oh-Ki came running up to her, crying and nudging her. Weeping, Ryoko opened her eyes and allowed the cuts to heal. She would not leave Ryo-Oh-Ki alone with that monster.

Tenchi's mother stopped scrubbing at the blood and moved to Tenchi's side. She held Tenchi tightly, and he sobbed in her arms, so distraught that it took him a few moments before he realized that his mother was whispering to him... She whispered that she understood his grief, that one such as Ryoko had not deserved such pain, and that she knew how much he loved Ryoko and wanted to help her put all that behind her...

With one hand she reached into Tenchi's shirt and pulled out the small velvet bag he kept on a string around his neck, the one that held the engagement ring Ayeka had given him so he could propose to Ryoko when he felt the time was right.

She whispered to him that she knew how much he loved Ryoko... Something about her tone of voice made Tenchi turn to look at the pool of blood again, and he saw another image forming there. It was a replay of the time Ryoko had torn the sleeves off his mother's kimono, and then Tenchi had yelled at Ryoko that he hated her.

Tenchi cried out, but Achika held his head firmly against her with one hand so that he could not turn away. Out of the corner of his eye, Tenchi fearfully saw her hand suddenly grow claws and turn purple. With her other hand, which had also grown claws, Achika pointed at the pool of blood again, and this time Tenchi saw himself slapping Ryoko during her fight with the sixteen-year-old Mayuka.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi cried, "Ryoko, I'm sorry..."

"And what about Ayeka?" his mother reminded him, "How long did you remain silent about your feelings for Ryoko, because you had been afraid of hurting Ayeka? Did you actually think that hiding truth for so long would really help Ayeka? Was it fair to her? Was it fair to Ryoko?"

Tenchi sobbed and lowered his head. "It wasn't fair to either of them," he said in a haunted whisper.

Achika pulled Tenchi to his feet. A shelf appeared before them, holding glass figurines of all the people Tenchi cared for most. His friends, his family ... his mother.

Achika jabbed a claw in the Ryoko figurine's direction. It shattered, bits of glass falling off the shelf in a small sparkling cascade. She did the same with the Ayeka figurine, and it shattered as well.

She then pointed at the floor, and Tenchi looked down to see fallen shards of glass sparkling on the pool of blood, which was still there. This time, the images that appeared in the pool were of a younger Tenchi yelling "I hate you!" at his dying mother.

There was the sound of breaking glass, and Tenchi did not even need to look up to know that the figurine of Achika had shattered.

The pool of blood then showed Tenchi killing Yuzuha, the tortured soul who had desperately wanted to be loved. More shattering sounds.

"Do you think that you deserve to be loved?" Achika whispered, "Do you?"

Tenchi felt as if he were drowning. What had Ryoko said to him, the night she had detected traces of the intense guilt that haunted him? Why did she continue to love him? He couldn't remember. His mind was becoming blank, all reasons and arguments being swept away, and they pulled away even faster as he tried to grab them, tried to call them back.

"Do you deserve to be loved? Do you?" she asked him again.

"No," Tenchi answered, squeezing his eyes shut as tears came forth, "No."

Achika suddenly pulled him very close to her, and tenderly kissed him on the forehead. "Tenchi," she said gently, "I forgive you."

Tenchi opened his eyes and gazed into Achika's. The whites of her eyes now had a bluish tinge to them. Tenchi knew now that she could not possibly be the real Achika, but he could not look away from those strange eyes. They looked familiar somehow, but he couldn't remember why. They were so beautiful...

She wiped the tears from his eyes. "It was Tsunami's fault," she said soothingly, "She could have taught you how to use your power to save your mother. She could have helped you to release Ryoko from her prison earlier. But she did not want you to discover your power until it was convenient for her. All that has happened is her will, part of her scheme for the universe. She and Washu betrayed me centuries ago. Last year, she tricked you into killing my daughter Yuzuha. She has made Sasami, an innocent girl, into her puppet ... and now she has similar plans for Ayeka."

She pressed her hand against Tenchi's forehead, and suddenly his mind was no longer blank, he could feel understanding flowing into him. "Tsunami is no better than Kagato," he said slowly. It was so clear now.

Yuzuha's mother nodded. "Tsunami does not deserve to have a son like you," she said, "Let me help you. We can destroy Tsunami, and then we can create a new family, we can be together always, you and I and Ryoko... and my granddaughter Mayuka."

Tenchi suddenly felt his powers open up again.

"Do you remember your fight with Kagato?" Yuzuha's mother asked, "Your power is independent of Tsunami's. Join your power with mine, and we can weaken Tsunami."

Tenchi hesitated. His gaze had still not left her beautiful eyes. There was no doubt in his mind of the truth of her words, and yet something felt ... wrong, somehow.

"Please, Tenchi," Yuzuha's mother said, "You do not have to be Tsunami's pawn any longer. Be the loving person you have struggled so much to be, the one Ryoko knows you can become." She embraced him again as he began to cry, and felt warmth envelop her as Tenchi's power joined with hers.

"Oh my child, how I love you," she whispered into his ear.

---

Ayeka floated in the waters, her eyes closed, her hands clasped in front of her as if in prayer. It was happening. The moment had arrived.

"You poor girl ... are you sure?" the Voice said to her. It was extremely faint now, but Ayeka could still hear every word, "To have fallen in love, and to not have that love returned to you ... twice! And to have to leave your life behind, and be asked to do this..."

_Enough,_ Ayeka said mentally, _There is no time to waste. I am not afraid._

"Such a brave young lady..." said the Voice.

Ayeka smiled. _When you live for others, when you would do anything to protect those you love, your heart becomes strong enough to hold a surprising amount of courage._

"I think I knew of such strength, once. I wish to know it again," said the Voice ... the voice that sounded so much like Ayeka's, and yet wasn't.

Ayeka opened her eyes. _Then let us begin._

"Yes."

Remaining suspended in the golden fluid, Ayeka stretched her arms out in front of her, palms facing outward. A piercing silver light came from her tiara, the brightest one yet, and then she suddenly redirected the power inward, causing the light to disappear. She watched unflinchingly as the skin began to peel off her hands, whitish flakes fluttering away through the liquid. The process began to pick up speed, and all the layers of skin fell away, revealing not flesh, but white light. The process continued up her arms, and spread, until all of her being had become pure light.

The light began to break up into smaller and smaller pieces, floating throughout the tank until Ayeka resembled pearl dust floating in liquid gold. Then there was a bright flash, and Ayeka disappeared completely.

---

Ryoko opened her eyes to find Nobuyuki and Sasami looking down at her with concern. Washu stepped into view beside them. To Ryoko's surprise, she was in her adult form.

"It's just like Tsunami said," Sasami whispered.

Washu frowned slightly, but quickly made her expression calm again. Ryoko had already recognized the expression, though. It was the look Washu had when she didn't understand something.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright," Washu said to Ryoko, "Azaka and Kamidake will be fine, too ... they just need to be reenergized."

Nobuyuki gently began to take Mayuka from Ryoko's arms. She protested weakly and tried to take the baby back, but Washu stopped her. "It's okay, Ryoko," Washu said quietly, "She'll be fine. You need to get some rest. Tenchi's going to need you soon. We all will."

Afraid to let Mayuka out of her sight, Ryoko shook her head and tried to sit up, but Washu pushed her back down. Ryoko sighed and stayed on the ground this time. "Why?" she asked softly, referring to Washu's adult body.

"Never mind that now," Washu whispered soothingly, "Right now you must rest. Sasami has something that will help you to feel better."

With that, the young Juraian princess reached into her robe and pulled out Tenchiken. Ryoko blinked in surprise as she felt her missing two gems being returned to her. A rush of energy filled her, but after the first few seconds it was replaced by a feeling of heavy warmth. Her body relaxed and her eyes closed.

Through a haze of fatigue, Ryoko heard Washu ask in a low voice, "You still haven't explained everything to me. What happened here is Tokimi's doing, isn't it?"

"No," came Sasami reply, "You've got it wrong, Washu..."

"Then why has Tsunami sent Ayeka to fight her?" asked Washu.

Sasami's voice again: "Tsunami didn't send Ayeka to fight Tokimi. She sent her to save Tokimi."

Who was Tokimi? Trying to make sense of it all, Ryoko struggled to remain awake, but the pull of sleep was too strong. Her consciousness was dragged back into darkness. But this time it was a warm darkness, cradled in a shining power that whispered of a promise, a prophecy...

What was it?

All questions dissolved in the gentle arms of sleep.

---

Pain.

Tsunami clutched her chest and held back a scream as she felt something like hands squeezing around her heart. This had been happening on and off for the past fifteen minutes now. She knew what was causing it, but she would not fight it.

She would not harm Tenchi.

Tsunami had expected this. Her opponent did not know it, but she had planned for this. So Tsunami simply squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth, and endured the pain. She was unaccustomed to physical pain, but she would rather go through this than let any of the baleful energies touch Sasami.

Her patience was rewarded, and she let out a sigh as the pain subsided once more. Her companion, a woman wearing a white robe who had very recently materialized in her private realm, continued to hold Tsunami comfortingly in her arms. "Thank you, sister," Tsunami whispered.

They sat there in silence, until another wave of pain overcame her, and Tsunami burst into tears. She sank deeper into her sister's arms, sobbing quietly as her sister held her and rocked her gently. The pain eventually went away, but the tears of joy - for that is what they were - kept coming. At last, at long last, she had a sister again.

"My, my, look at you," her sister said, brushing some of the hair out of Tsunami's face, "You're a mess."

They both laughed.

_She has never looked more radiant,_ Tsunami thought as she smiled at her sister. The skirt of her white robe spread out on the ground like the petals of a flower, and an aura of silver light had formed around her in response to the power of this sacred place.

"I know what is in your heart, Tsunami," her sister said gently, "You are afraid that your plans will fail. But you mustn't fear, otherwise you will fail for certain."

"What if there was a better way?" Tsunami said in a haunted whisper, "What if I've made a horrible mistake?"

"Tenchi has come this far. Do you have faith in him, as I do?" she said in response. When Tsunami nodded, her sister added, "And Ryoko? Do you believe in her abilities?"

Tsunami nodded again.

"Then what you feel is guilt for what you have put Tenchi and others through," her sister said, "But you mustn't worry about that now. Do not focus on what cannot be changed, but on the battles to come. You must be strong."

"It's so difficult," Tsunami murmured.

"I know," her sister said softly, "But when I was with Tenchi, I felt more like myself than I ever did before. That's how it is, when you are with someone you love. If anyone can help Tenchi to overcome the guilt and self-loathing inside him, Ryoko can." Slowly, reluctantly, she took her arms off Tsunami and stood. "I must go now," she said softly.

"I know," said Tsunami, "Good luck to you."

"The light will always prevail," she replied as she faded away, "Don't forget that, sister."

"Thank you, sister..." Tsunami said, closing her eyes as she whispered her name, "...Ayeka. Thank you so much."

---

"We should be arriving at Jurai shortly," Kiyone commented, applying the final folds to the paper flower she was making. By this point, Mihoshi had reconstructed nearly the entire Masaki household out of paper, including the house itself, and was still trying to figure out why she couldn't make a butterfly. Ryo-Oh-Ki giggled, and even Katsuhito could not hide a smile.

Kiyone smiled as well, but a strange thought had settled into the back of her mind. Perhaps it was just the feeling of being in space again, but she could not help but sense that something was going to happen.

"Oh, I still can't get it right! This isn't a butterfly!" said Mihoshi, indicating her latest creation.

"No, but it's a perfect Ayeka," Kiyone laughed.

Perhaps something really was about to happen. Perhaps not. One thing that Kiyone knew for certain, though, was that she might be back in space, but she was not alone this time. And she would do everything she could to make the most of it. She gave Mihoshi another piece of paper and watched as her friend tried again. There were cheers and applause when Mihoshi produced a butterfly this time, and placed it onto the flower Kiyone had made.

---

In a place of power in the Dimension of Darkness, there was a swirling in the green-gold fluid of the tank in which Mayuka had been created. Like a miniature galaxy giving birth to a star, the whirlpool produced a red gem. The sides of the tank trembled for a moment, as the gem gave off waves of power. Purple and silver danced within the gem's core, before leaving the gem and spreading throughout the liquid. The green-gold became liquid amethyst laced with silver, and the tank shook once more. The living wood that made up this realm sensed what was about to happen, and trembled for the briefest instant.

There was a bright flash, and the purple and silver light retreated back towards the gem, allowing the fluid to return to its green-gold hue. The new light did not reenter the gem, though ... it clustered around the jewel, and solidified into a young woman.

The tale of the Dimension of Darkness was a long and complicated one. Adding to the complexity was the fact that it connected to other stories, as all stories do. The mystery of a young policewoman who had died during the destruction of a planet ... The guilt-ridden son of Tsunami whose fate would determine the fate of countless others ... The beautiful cyan-haired daughter of Washu who would do anything for the man she loved... While all these, along with other stories, were going to come together in this place very soon, at the moment only one aspect of this web of events interested the living wood of this realm. In the face of so much, it was easier to focus on one small part, especially when it was right there: the woman in the tank.

She opened her eyes and began to swim, rising through the golden waters. Liquid splashed out as she broke the surface and flew into the air. The effect was something like seeing the petals of a Juraian flower cage open to release a butterfly during the Juraian Spring Festival...

A symbol of renewed hope, a promise that had been kept.  
Ayeka had been reborn.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: The war of Darkness and Light intensifies as battles are fought, mysteries are solved, and lives are changed forever. Most importantly to Ryoko, the soul of Tenchi Masaki hangs in the balance! Don't miss Chapter 6 of Confess to You, "Salvation"!

Author's notes: Whew! Sorry that it took so long to get this chapter done, but life threw a few surprises at me, and I suddenly became a lot busier than I had planned. Oh well, surprises are what make life interesting. Heh heh.

Special thanks go to my prereaders: AleeN, Max "Foxanime" Gilliland, Rhys "DJ Wite Trash" Doyle (Geez Rhys, whatever happened to "Frigidheat"?), Lost Magi, The Eternal Lost Lurker, Magus The Dark, Megami-Ryoko, Owen "Masami" Kuhn, and K'thardin. Most of them are fan fic writers, so you might want to check out their stuff too.

By the way, I haven't heard the CD Specials or read any of the novels (and I can't afford to ^^;;;), so I don't use them in my fics. There, now I'm covered if I accidentally contradicted them. *wink*

Anyway, I want to hear from you! Please send me C&C, suggestions, or questions concerning this story (or any of my other fics).

Thanks for reading! See ya next chapter!

Thought of the day: Okay, so Yuzuha's Yuzuha, and Mayuka's Mayuka. That still doesn't tell me who Gabbo is!

[AleeN: I figure it's some guy. Some guy named Gabbo. ^_^]

Text copyright 1999, 2000, Literary Eagle  
(But most of the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)


	6. Salvation

Welcome to the latest chapter of "Confess to You"! Special thanks go to AleeN, K'thardin, and Firebird for prereading this chapter. I'm very grateful for all your kindness!

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and its characters are the property of AIC and whoever else owns them. However, this story is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun.

Last Chapter: One year after the events of Manatsu no Eve, Ryoko's romantic day with Tenchi was ruined when dark and mysterious forces abducted her beloved. Goddesses awoke, and secrets of the past resurfaced... The day Tsunami prepared for had finally arrived.

Confess to You: Chapter Six - Salvation  
By Literary Eagle

An old Juraian story told of a garden belonging to the goddess Tsunami that was breathtaking in its beauty, and life-giving in the healing properties of its flowers.

It was said that the center of this garden was a water fountain surrounded by Royal Teardrops and Startica Bells, the two most famous Juraian flowers ... the former for sorrow, and the latter for joy. The reddish-purple of the Royal Teardrops mingled with the pink of the Startica Bells in such a way that if one were to gaze upon the circle of flowers from high above, one would see that the whole display looked almost like a large reddish-pink eye, with the waters of the fountain as its tears.

The story went on to say that a small green sprout appeared in this eye one day, and that the little bud could not decide whether to blossom into a Royal Teardrop or a Startica Bell.

"Be like one of us," the Royal Teardrops told the unopened flower, "We are sincere and disciplined."

"No, be like one of us," the Startica Bells said, "We are playful, and have no worries."

Impressed with the devoutness of the Royal Teardrops, the little green bud decided to join them, and so she made preparations to bloom as one. Alas, as she readied herself, she began to feel unhappy. Despite the sense of duty and purpose that being a Royal Teardrop seemed to provide, she became somewhat envious of how free and merry the Startica Bells were.

Sensing her doubt, the Royal Teardrops and Startica Bells became quite relentless in trying to recruit her, each side earnestly wanting to claim the unopened flower. Indecision and inner conflict nearly caused the young plant to wilt. She rather liked the idea of feeling unfettered and joyous, but she still believed in the importance of duty as well. In despair, she said to herself, "Both flowers have their merits, and yet I must embrace one and forever reject the other! Is this the only choice I have? Is there no other way, no other path to take?" It was quite a dilemma. She told the flowers that she did not want to be spoken to for a little while, so that she could have time to think. The flowers obliged her.

So long and silent was her contemplation that she was the first plant in the garden to actually pay attention to the sounds made by the waters of the fountain. That was when she discovered that the eye of the garden cried for different reasons, from the deepest sadness to the most intense happiness. The bud realized that water did not sing just one note. Water sang many notes, a constantly evolving melody.

Forever changing.

Upon realizing that she wanted to be like this as well, the green bud's sides split open, and what emerged was not a flower at all, but a butterfly! And so, she was free to fly and explore, but she also dutifully spread pollen and helped more flowers to grow. As the butterfly journeyed the rest of the garden, going beyond her little world of Royal Teardrops and Startica Bells, she found new kinds of plants and helped them to flourish as well. Before long, the garden's colors and fragrances were more diverse and beautiful than ever.

This was one of the oldest known Juraian tales, but storytellers have been forbidden from recounting it for well over 700 years now. The exact reason why is uncertain, but a rumor says that while Queen Misaki had been trying to decide on a name for her first child, a lovely baby girl, that she had heard a female voice whisper "Ayekanaru" ("Forever Changing"). Whether by coincidence or not, later that same day Emperor Azusa added the butterfly's tale to the list of forbidden stories, and ordered all written copies to be destroyed. Some say that there was sadness and fear in Azusa's eyes as he made that decree, but many have scoffed at the notion. After all, what could the Emperor of Jurai possibly have to fear?

---

As the resurrected Ayeka rose from the tank in which Mayuka had been created, vivid images of this lost Juraian story somehow played before her mind's eye, images that seemed as real as the sensation of wetness on her skin. The vision of the butterfly's tale faded, and Ayeka hovered motionlessly in the air, liquid dripping off her glistening form and falling back to the tank below. The bands that usually kept her hair in ponytails were gone just like the rest of her clothing, leaving her wet tresses clinging to her bare back.

However, Ayeka's tiara remained, and she instinctively ran a finger across it. Silver light erupted from the head ornament at her touch. Her long purple hair billowed out behind her as the silver radiance dried it, spreading and rippling like a cloak of amethyst and mercury. The light moved on to other directions, caressing her face and neck, slowly tracing her slender arms and the graceful contours of her body, then descending from her gleaming thighs down to her toes, causing the fluid to evaporate from her skin as it went.

As the dampness left her skin and became scattered to the air, so did Ayeka's newly enhanced senses reach out to her surroundings, like invisible mental fingers scattering to touch the numerous bookshelves in Yuzuha's home, the broken toys, the sagging Christmas decorations, the large tree roots that made up the walls. Without moving from her midair position, Ayeka explored the area, her "mental fingers" probing deeper, feeling not only the surfaces of objects, but also the secrets they held.

This was a place of power, filled with regret and memory. For one who could see with the soul, the impressions left behind would make themselves known. Images began to play out in front of Ayeka, as if from numerous film projectors in different parts of the room. Solemnly, she watched them all ... recollections of goddesses, of a family that had been torn apart.

She searched deeper still.

As she investigated, she discerned Tenchi's presence somewhere above her, where the remains of the Tree of Darkness stood. She could sense Tenchi's suffering, his guilt, and his self-loathing. Worse, she could feel the Darkness reaching into him, manipulating and twisting with promises of love, of security, of making everything better.

Ayeka clenched her hands as tears of frustration came to her eyes. How she longed to go to him, to save him right now! But it was Ryoko, the one Tenchi loved most, who had the best chance of getting through to him. If Ayeka were to try to aid Tenchi at this time, there was a very real possibility that she would not only fail, but also ruin Tsunami's plan, and then they would lose everything. The risk was too great.

Sighing again, Ayeka continued to search for what she was supposed to find. Reaching further into her surroundings, she could detect a faint hint of emotional energy diffused throughout the room. Resting ... almost hiding. She felt its overwhelming shame ... its presence felt so much like Tenchi's did right now, only weaker. The Darkness had broken it quite badly.

But not completely.

"I know you're there," Ayeka whispered to the air, "I can sense a wish to atone for what has happened before. The time has come. Here is a chance to help all of us."

Slowly, bit by bit, the widely separated traces of desperately twisted hopes, manic dreams, and underlying shame began to leave their various hiding places, coming together before Ayeka's eyes. It was like seeing a work of art being sculpted right in front of her, and this masterpiece was in the form of a man made of shadows.

"Lord Tenchi is right above me, and yet I cannot go to him..." Ayeka said softly to the wraithlike being, "Only Miss Ryoko can reach him. With their love for each other, they have a chance ... but first, someone must help her. Please, go to her. Comfort Ryoko, so that she may save Tenchi."

The shadowy figure nodded and then vanished, leaving Ayeka alone again. "Thank you," she said anyway. Finally floating down so that her feet touched the floor, Ayeka turned to look at the tank she had just come from. Where her reflection should have been, the image of a lost goddess now stared back. Turning away from the tank again, Ayeka closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, trembling. A brief flicker of doubt entered her mind, and for a moment she certainly didn't feel like a goddess, but a lost little princess alone against the Darkness.

The Voice, the weak but comforting Voice that had guided her this far into the realm was gone, its strength extinguished after Ayeka's rebirth. Yes, she was alone against the Darkness now. But once again her heart intoned its mantra of "Courage, courage, courage..." and she listened to it.

After all, there had been a time when Tsunami had entrusted the care of her entire sacred garden to a single fragile butterfly.

---

Ryoko could feel herself floating. She couldn't see anything. Where was she? What was happening? Ah, now she remembered ... this had to be some kind of dream, because she had fallen asleep. After having her missing two gems returned to her from Tenchiken, she had drifted off, exhausted from the struggle.

Struggle?

There had been a struggle... Tenchi had been taken away, that was it. Tenchi was gone, and she had to find him! She had to wake up!

That train of thought was interrupted when she suddenly felt a strong presence... She was not alone in this strange, dark place. It gave Ryoko the unshakable feeling that this was more than a dream. Something brought on by having all her gems back, combined with the new power Tsunami and Ayeka had given her?

The specter drew closer.

"Ayeka?" Ryoko said cautiously. She concentrated for a moment. No. This ... person ... felt familiar, but it wasn't Ayeka. This presence was male.

"Tenchi?" Ryoko asked, reaching out into the dimness. Let it be him, oh please let it be him! Focusing her "second sight", as she had come to call her new power, she was finally able to see something in the gloom: an even blacker silhouette, as if there was a void cut into the darkness in the shape of a man.

Ryoko willed herself to move closer to him ... closer ... suddenly she was no longer floating, and it was as if there was an unseen floor beneath her feet. The silhouette stood wordlessly before her. He felt so familiar...

"Tenchi?" said Ryoko, hardly daring to believe it. Had her sleeping mind found him? Was she really that powerful now?

He still looked like nothing more than a shadow, but when he wrapped his arms around her, the embrace was solid and comforting. Ryoko returned the hug, crying with relief. "Tenchi!" she sobbed.

But wait ... although she could not lose the feeling that this man seemed familiar, something was not right. Shaking her head, she pulled away from the not-quite-Tenchi. "Who are you?"

In response, he stepped back. Five gray Light Hawk Wings (at least, they looked something like Light Hawk Wings) appeared before him, casting a silvery light and revealing a young man who clearly was not Tenchi, but still seemed strangely reminiscent of him.

"Who are you?" Ryoko repeated, reaching out to him. Whether it was simply to touch him, or to strike at him for impersonating Tenchi, even she didn't know. However, before she could reach him, the five Wings disappeared, and the man was a dark shadow once more.

"I am the heart of she who sought to be heartless," he said in a low voice, "I am the spirit that rejected love yet still craved it, that used hatred and revenge to fill the void within myself ... and was finally split apart again and again by my own shame, until I was carried to you on butterfly's wings."

Ryoko sweatdropped. "Gee, I'm sorry I asked," she said wryly, "So, do you have a name, or should I just call you Hazy?"

"Call me whatever you wish," he said, apparently not realizing that she was joking, "We have much to do..."

"Much to do about what?" Ryoko demanded, frowning with suspicion.

"She is filled with Darkness. I remind you of Tenchi, don't I? That is because I reflect the desires in her heart. She is after Tenchi. She wants to claim the son of Tsunami as her own child, and you as well ... the daughter of Tsunami's sister, Washu."

"You're not making any sense! Who are you talking about?" Ryoko searched her memory. What was that name she had heard Washu say, before she had fallen asleep and ended up here? Ah yes... "Tokimi? Are you talking about Tokimi?"

"Ayeka will take care of Tokimi," said the shadow, "But your help is needed as well. You must get to Tenchi. Be strong, for you shall also have a role in saving us all."

Ryoko tried to protest as he suddenly took her into another embrace, but subsided when she felt the warm reassurance that radiated from him... It could not compare to Tenchi's love, of course, but it was not unpleasant either.

Still, a bit of skepticism remained. "If you're a reflection of 'her' desires, then why are you trying to help me?" Ryoko queried.

"Because not all of me has been given to the Darkness," was his reply. Then the vague figure became even fainter, and Ryoko realized that he was disappearing.

"Wait!" she shouted, but he was already gone.

...That was when Ryoko woke up. She found herself lying on the grass by the steps of the Masaki shrine. Washu, no longer in the guise of a child, and Sasami, still very much a child, were nearby, speaking quietly to each other. Out of her field of vision, Ryoko could hear Mayuka cooing to herself, and guessed that Nobuyuki was still watching over the infant.

Ryoko tried to sit up, and found that she could not. She then tried to speak, but was unable to make a sound. It seemed that only her eyes could move. Meanwhile, Washu and Sasami were continuing their conversation, unaware that she was awake. Frustrated, Ryoko was about to try her telepathic link with Washu, when suddenly she began to feel a tingling around her sides and back, where the shadowy entity had embraced her.

An intense mental image came to her just then ... a warning? There was a woman who looked like Tenchi's mother Achika, except that she had purple claws for hands and blue-tinged eyes that were beautifully alien, and yet as frighteningly familiar as a nightmare returning to haunt one's thoughts. Ryoko saw herself with Tenchi, both kneeling at the woman's feet and looking up at her adoringly, as blood dripped from their hands...

"NO!" Ryoko screamed. The vision shattered, and she found that she could move again ... she was thrashing in Washu's arms.

"Ryoko, what is it?" Washu asked frantically.

It took several minutes before Ryoko could calm down enough to stop struggling against her mother's hold. As Sasami and Nobuyuki looked on with concern, Ryoko grabbed Washu's wrist and looked into her mother's eyes with a desperate urgency that she had never felt before. "I have to get to Tenchi, now!" she said.

---

Aboard the spaceship Masami tTAN, Kiyone hummed to herself as she poured Lesellian iced tea into mugs for each of the ship's current occupants: a mug with yellow stars on it for Mihoshi, an orange one decorated with paw print patterns for Ryo-Oh-Ki, and plain brown ones for Katsuhito and herself. Setting the mugs onto a tray that also held a plate covered with cookies and carrot sticks, Kiyone then exited the ship's kitchen, carefully carrying the snacks into the next room.

"Welcome back, Kiyone!" Mihoshi called cheerfully. She and the humanoid toddler form of Ryo-Oh-Ki were playing with their origami creations at the table, while Katsuhito watched in silence.

"Clear some of that stuff off the table," Kiyone said, smiling, "There's just enough time for a snack before we arrive outside planet Jurai."

"Okay!" Mihoshi said, smiling back and moving the origami to one side of the table. She then turned to Ryo-Oh-Ki and added, "Well, Ryo-Oh-Ki, are you ready to play the message Ayeka put in your memory for her parents?"

The cabbit-girl nodded an affirmative. "Me practiced new dance to show them, too!" she said. As a demonstration, she began to wriggle her hips in such a suggestive manner that it raised several eyebrows in the room.

"Did Ryoko teach that to you, by any chance? Possibly while Tenchi was there to watch?" Katsuhito asked. He said it with a straight face and with his voice sounding as neutral as ever, but everyone laughed anyway.

A buzzer sounded, interrupting the moment. "Have we arrived already?" said Kiyone, surprised at the passage of time. She excused herself from the table and headed for the cockpit, followed by Katsuhito. Sitting in the pilot's seat, Kiyone saw a bright green orb in the star-filled view ahead of her. Planet Jurai.

However, she barely had time to register the sight before another ship unexpectedly flared into existence right in front of the Masami tTAN. Kiyone let out a yelp and yanked at her ship's controls, barely managing to avoid a collision with the strange new vessel.

In size and shape the newcomer resembled a second-generation Juraian treeship, but instead of wood, it appeared as if it had been carved out of an enormous gemstone the color of ebony and midnight. Indigo fire pulsed from deep within the center, while sparkling embers of silver slowly coursed along the ship's seamless outer surfaces. Some of the sparks left behind silver streaks that lingered for a moment like miniature shooting stars frozen in time, before breaking up into smaller and smaller particles until they could no longer be distinguished from the vessel's shiny blackness.

Kiyone felt herself both drawn and repulsed at the same time by the ship's overbearing beauty, and Katsuhito had to gently shake her before she regained enough presence of mind to put a bit more distance between the Masami tTAN and the mysterious craft. Just as she had finished doing so, an orb of energy erupted from the front of the dark ship. For several tense moments the glowing sphere seemed to regard them like a massive unblinking eye, before finally opening like a deadly flower with three bladelike petals.

Light Hawk Wings?!

Kiyone gasped. As far as she knew, the only vehicles capable of such a feat were Juraian ones. But this could not be a Juraian construct ... could it? She turned to Katsuhito for his opinion, and a new wave of dread washed over her at the horrified look on his face. "What is it?" she asked.

Katsuhito continued to stare at the dark ship, his eyes showing a fear that few had ever seen in them. "Tenchi..." he said, his voice shaking as the Light Hawk Wings took on a purplish hue, "Tenchi, what are you doing?"

---

Meanwhile, unaware of the danger, Mihoshi and Ryo-Oh-Ki murmured in dismay at the state of their snacks and origami figures, which had spilled and scattered everywhere due to the Masami tTAN's evasive maneuvers. As Mihoshi bent to pick up her origami creations, she was relieved to find that most of them were all right, except for the little paper Tenchi which unfortunately had landed in a puddle of iced tea. She watched as the paper figure absorbed so much tea that it became completely dark. It was only a paper doll, but something about the sight made her uneasy.

---

It had been known as the Suzaku, the fastest of Jurai's second-generation ships. In fact, its legendary speed had earned it the affectionate nickname "Birdie", because it reminded people of a hummingbird as it darted amongst the other vessels in the fleet. Tenchi had absorbed this information as he ensnared the ship with his power, and combined his abilities with his new mother's in order to transform the Suzaku into something far greater than it was before.

The craft's base wooden structure had been replaced with glorious crystal, and every inch of it shone with barely restrained energy. It had been reborn as a whole new ship, certainly a very fitting honor for something named after the legendary phoenix. Most importantly, the Suzaku was finally liberated from Tsunami's influence. The Light Hawk Wings it currently brandished were from Tenchi's power, not hers. Yes, the Suzaku was free of that wretched goddess, and soon the rest of the Juraian fleet, and indeed all of Jurai, would follow.

However, it seemed that Tsunami had caught on to what Tenchi and his new mother were doing, for he could feel her strong will blocking them from transforming the other ships. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before they bested her. Despite the tree spirit's resistance, they had still been able to paralyze all the ships, and had also managed to disarm Jurai's planetary defenses. It would not be much longer now... His body began to tremble with anger, as the very thought of Tsunami filled him with rage.

"Have patience, my child," Mother whispered from behind him, adding more of her power to his, "We'll defeat Tsunami in due time."

"Forgive me," said Tenchi, relaxing a little, "It's just that ... I hate Tsunami so much..."

"I know," Mother said soothingly, "But for now, we must continue to use our powers to weaken Tsunami, nothing more. As for the Suzaku's Wings, just hold them in position. The Wings are for Ryoko. She will see them and come to us."

"And then we'll be together," Tenchi said happily, as Mother embraced him tightly, "A family."

Tenchi returned the hug just as tightly, as tears of gratitude came to his eyes. He knew that she was not really Achika, but that didn't matter. She was like a mother to him anyway, because she had loved him enough to open his eyes to the truth. Tsunami had created him, but she had not been anything like a good "mother". Why hadn't she taught him how to use his power to save the real Achika when she had been on her deathbed? Why hadn't she helped him to release Ryoko from her prison earlier? Because Tsunami had not wanted him to discover his power until it was convenient for her, that was why! She had let Kagato kill him first, stalled him from rescuing Ryoko ... his beloved Ryoko... Damn you Tsunami, Ryoko had not deserved that!

Oh, how he hated, HATED Tsunami now!

A voice in the back of Tenchi's mind shouted, "No, it's not true!", and he winced and squeezed his eyes shut as he was assailed with indecision for a moment. But as he remained there with his eyes closed, a vision of pools of blood and shattered glass invaded his consciousness. Broken glass figures of Achika, of Ryoko and Ayeka, of Yuzuha...

He remembered what his new mother had said about Tsunami: "All that has happened is her will, part of her scheme for the universe. She and Washu betrayed me centuries ago. Last year, she tricked you into killing my daughter Yuzuha. She has made Sasami, an innocent girl, into her puppet ... and now she has similar plans for Ayeka".

Yes, that was it! Tsunami's fault! All ... her ... damn ... fault! Tenchi quivered with fury as an undertone of indecision still dared to flit through his thoughts, but he stopped shaking and opened his eyes when Mother uttered his name. Her beautiful blue-tinged eyes gazed into his, and once again he saw perfect truth in them, felt his mind cleansed of all doubt.

She took him into another embrace, and they combined their powers to prepare another strike at Tsunami. Mother smiled at his devotion to the task. "Oh my child, you make me so proud," she said, stroking his hair.

"Mother ... when will we save Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, his voice heavy with longing.

"Soon, Tenchi," she said, smiling, "We shall free her from Washu's control, and you can be together again. She will be my loving daughter, as you are my devoted son."

"And no one will be able to separate us," Tenchi said.

"Nor will anyone be able to stop us," she finished.

Their powers coiled together and sought out Tsunami again. Then, like twin snakes, they struck.

---

"What are we going to do?" Mihoshi fretted. She and Ryo-Oh-Ki had now joined Kiyone and Katsuhito in the Masami tTAN's cockpit, and were looking in alarm at the dark ship and its amethyst Light Hawk Wings. It had made no move to attack them, but was still a fearsome sight. "Are you sure Tenchi is making those Wings?" Mihoshi continued, "What should we do? That ship won't respond to our calls!"

As if reacting to her friend's agitation, Ryo-Oh-Ki suddenly changed back into cabbit form and began to hop about wildly.

"Hey!" Kiyone exclaimed, "What..."

That was when the little cabbit abruptly phased through the Masami tTAN's front window and switched to ship form. Before anyone could say another word, the cabbit-ship had beamed Mihoshi and Kiyone inside herself.

"Oh my, does Ryo-Oh-Ki want us to attack?" Mihoshi asked nervously.

Kiyone ran to the controls and found Ryo-Oh-Ki's communications station. Once she had successfully established contact with the Masami tTAN, Kiyone began to converse with Katsuhito. They needed to figure out what was going on, and fast.

Meanwhile, Mihoshi began to wander about the ship. "Pretty crystals," she said to herself, noticing that the ship's crystals seemed to be herding her in a certain direction. "Are you trying to tell me something, Ryo-Oh-Ki?" She then noticed that there was a crystal that was larger than all the others, at the very back of the ship.

It was making a knocking sound.

"Um ... Kiyone? The crystal is knocking," she said.

"I'll be with you in a minute, Mihoshi," Kiyone called from the front of the ship, before turning back to the communications screen, "Lord Katsuhito, it seems that any messages I try to send to Jurai are being blocked! Something's really wrong. I sure hope we're not going to be needing the Juraian fleet's help, because it doesn't look like we'll be getting it anytime soon..."

As Kiyone continued to talk, Mihoshi stared at the crystal, wondering what she should do. The knocking was getting louder, and the crystal shook with each knock. "Um ... hello?" she said to the crystal.

The knocking took on a very insistent tone.

Shrugging, Mihoshi tapped the crystal. No change, except that the crystal knocked again. This time, Mihoshi knocked back. The crystal responded with a loud booming knock. At last, Mihoshi noticed a button on the side of the crystal, and pressed it. One side of the crystal disappeared, and Mihoshi was very startled to see an adult Washu step through the opening.

"It's about time!" Washu exclaimed, "Haven't you people ever answered a door before?"

"W-W-Washu?" Mihoshi stuttered.

From behind Washu, Sasami stepped out of the crystal, carrying Mayuka. Ryoko came out next, carrying a shoebox. The sight reminded Mihoshi of one of those tiny cars at the circus that had dozens of clowns pouring out of it. When no one else emerged, she stuck her head into the crystal and saw the interior of Washu's lab. "Oh, now I get it!" she chirped happily.

"Good for you," Washu muttered, rolling her eyes.

Kiyone finally turned away from the communications screen. "Mihoshi, what's all this noise about... Oh! What are you all doing here?"

Washu turned to Sasami. "Yes, exactly what ARE we doing here?"

Everyone else sweatdropped and turned to look at Sasami.

"Tsunami's instructions," Sasami said apologetically. She was still holding onto Mayuka, so she used her chin to gesture to the shoebox that Ryoko was holding. "Ryoko, could you open my box for me, please?"

Ryoko lifted the lid, and Sasami held Mayuka out. Everyone else blinked in surprise as the baby reached in and took out a sword hilt. It resembled Tenchiken, but the designs were different, and it was silver instead of golden-brown.

"What is that?" asked Mihoshi, "It's pretty."

"Is it safe to let Mayuka hold that thing?" Ryoko said warily, looking about ready to yank the sword hilt away.

"The scary ship out there is Juraian, but has been corrupted so that it won't respond to Tsunami or Tenchiken," Sasami replied, "To take control of it, we need to try using this sword instead. It's a custom-made key, but Mayuka is the only one here who can touch it, so I need her help. This won't be easy, though... That ship is currently being operated with the Tree of Darkness itself."

---

Ayeka stood silently in the Dimension of Darkness, eyes closed. She could sense Sasami and Mayuka struggling to control the ship with their key ... struggling, and failing. Even though the Tree of Darkness had mostly been destroyed when Tenchi had defeated Yuzuha, the Tree was now being renewed, rejuvenated. Tenchi's power was being used to revive the Tree.

She sighed. In her mind's eye she saw the level above her, where the Tree resided. The Tree of Darkness... Tsunami's old tree. It sounded impossible, and yet she knew it was true. Tsunami had told her about it, and with her ability to replay the memories of this place, she could also see it for herself...

******************************************************************

Tsunami materialized in front of her tree and smiled, happy to be back home. She and her sisters visited many realms, but they would always come back to this dimension. This was their home, and this large cavern made from braided wood was her room. Little waves came to the shore and tickled Tsunami's feet in greeting. She loved water, and so she had covered the floor of the cavern with it, and filled it with all manner of aquatic life. The small island on which she stood was the center of her room. It was also where her tree resided. The tree was her real pride and joy. It already looked so big and so beautiful, and it was still growing.

She sang out a greeting to her dear tree, and it responded by emitting beams of rainbow light that surrounded her in a shower of colors. The young goddess giggled and gave its trunk a loving pat, murmuring to it that she was going to leave for just a bit, to tell her sisters that she had returned. Stepping towards the edge of the small island, Tsunami waited until some of the twisted wood that formed the walls unraveled and made itself into a staircase, causing her to giggle again. She had no need for stairs, really, but it was so much fun to make the walls unwind and then curl back up again! Going up the stairs to the next chamber, Tsunami turned around to wave goodbye to her tree. In response, more rainbow lights sprang from the leaves of the tree, scampering up the stairs after her like a puppy trying to follow its master.

Stepping into Washu's room, Tsunami smiled at the familiar sight of her older sister's collection of knickknacks. Washu had an insatiable curiosity, and loved to seek new realms and make new discoveries. In fact, she loved exploration so much that she had developed an odd quirk where sometimes she would erase a part of her memory, just so that she could make a favorite discovery all over again. She liked to collect artifacts too, particularly artifacts from humanoid species. Her room held a particularly large stash of sake bottles that she had collected over the years, because she had found their shape to be charming. (It was only very recently that she learned of the even more fascinating peculiarities of the alcohol from the bottles.) However, she also held some affection for non-humanoid creatures, and every few millennia a new creature would become something of a fad to her ... the latest one was some sort of little red crustacean. Plush toys of said crustacean had been placed in random locations on her pyramid of sake bottles.

"Oh, Tsunami!" Washu exclaimed, stepping out from behind the pyramid, "You're home!"

Tsunami excitedly ran up to her older sister and hugged her. "Where is Tokimi?" she asked, peeking behind the sake bottles to see if her oldest sister was hiding back there.

"Over here," said Tokimi, stepping out from behind a ... what had Washu said it was called? Oh yes, a curtain. Tokimi stepped out from behind the curtain, and Tsunami saw that she was wearing tight-fitting leather pants and a tank top that showed a generous amount of cleavage. Little silver skull ornaments decorated her light brown hair.

"Hey, not bad," Washu said, nodding her approval.

Tsunami rolled her eyes. "Been collecting more space biker fashions, Washu?" It had been Washu's idea that the three of them take on humanoid forms, so that they could play dress-up with the artifacts she collected.

Tokimi fingered the skull-shaped hair ornaments with one of her clawed purple hands. "Personally, I find this clothing a little too immodest." She stepped back behind the curtain, and reemerged moments later dressed in one of her usual outfits ... orange and gold hair ornaments, as well as a skintight green bodysuit and dark robes that showed just as much cleavage as the biker outfit had. It was VERY hard for Tsunami not to facefault at that point.

Tokimi stifled a laugh at her youngest sister's obvious embarrassment. "Do my favorite traveling clothes make you so uncomfortable? Now Tsunami, be good for Washu, okay?" she said, hugging the younger goddess.

"You're leaving?" Tsunami said, dismayed, "But I just got back!"

"I have been staying home far too long," Tokimi said, her blue-tinged eyes showing a yearning for exploration usually seen more often in Washu's eyes.

"But I don't want you to go..." said Tsunami, beginning to cry despite her attempts not to.

Tokimi smiled reassuringly, then took one of Washu's sake bottles and broke it in her clawed hands. Washu sputtered a protest, but Tokimi ignored her and held out one of her hands, palm up. "Look," she said to Tsunami, her hushed tone promising something wonderful.

The young goddess obeyed, looking at the blood appearing in her older sister's palm from the broken glass. To her surprise and delight, the blood became multicolored and began to solidify, taking on the form of a butterfly.

"This butterfly will stay here, so that a part of me will always be with you, alright?" Tokimi whispered to Tsunami. She then kissed her younger sister on the forehead, and left the room.

Washu ran to the doorway, calling out after her, "Hey, while you're out there having a merry old time, don't forget that you now owe me a sake bottle!" She huffed and walked back towards her sake bottle pyramid. Her expression softened when she saw Tsunami cradling her new butterfly friend. "Hey kiddo," Washu said tenderly, "How about we design a new room for Tokimi, so there'll be a nice surprise for her when she comes back?"

Tsunami smiled as Washu took her by the hand. "Can my tree help?" she asked.

"Just what I was thinking, sis!" said Washu, leading the way to Tsunami's room, "Hey there, ya overgrown sprout! How about helping us design a room for Tokimi, huh?"

Tsunami laughed as her tree's leaves appeared to rustle indignantly at Washu's "overgrown sprout" comment. As the two sisters descended the stairs towards the center of Tsunami's room, the tree released several shafts of rainbow light that began to dance through the air. Tsunami's new butterfly friend fluttered over to the colorful beams, guiding them into a circular pattern.

"What are they saying?" Washu asked Tsunami.

"A stained glass window!" Tsunami said excitedly, "They're suggesting that we make a stained glass window for the room!"

******************************************************************

The vision faded, and Ayeka found herself standing in the actual room that Tsunami and Washu had built for their older sister. Whether it was her feet that had carried her there or one of her new powers, she did not know. Her curiosity was soon pulled in another direction, though, as a circle of gray on the room's far wall caught her attention.

Ayeka approached the circle, stopping a short distance to contemplate its grayness, which was in fact a thick layer of dust. So this was the stained glass window. It had been lovingly crafted by Tsunami and Washu to illuminate the room, but had been sleeping in the dusty embrace of neglect for many years now.

Slowly, almost reverently, Ayeka raised her hand and wiped the dust off a small portion of the window, exposing the delicately blushing wings of a butterfly. The stained glass image of the small creature cast a pale pink light onto Ayeka, as if seeking to keep her warm. Tears came to her eyes at the knowledge that Tokimi had never even seen this window, never even used this room her sisters had worked so hard to create. Yes, Tsunami had told Ayeka all about it, but even still, it was hard to accept that such a beautiful and happy realm had become a Dimension of Darkness.

Something stirred in the back of Ayeka's mind, and she raised her slender fingers to the window once more, pressing them against the image of the butterfly. "Fly," she said, her tiara giving off a faint glimmer of silver, "Fly."

The glass grew very warm under Ayeka's fingers...

---

Ryoko and her companions aboard Ryo-Oh-Ki watched anxiously as Sasami and Mayuka attempted to take control of the dark ship.

Sasami's eyes were closed with concentration, but her hold on Mayuka remained steady. Eventually, though, Mayuka wriggled tiredly in her arms, and she opened her eyes in time to see the silver sword hilt fall from the baby's hands. "This isn't working," Sasami said, her voice sounding as tired as Mayuka looked, "The Tree of Darkness has become too strong... Even with the key, I don't think we can take control of that ship."

"It's because of Tenchi..." said a faint voice. Everyone gasped as the ghostly white figure of Tsunami, the source of the voice, materialized in front of them and then promptly collapsed to the floor. "Tenchi's power is being used to strengthen the Tree..." Tsunami continued, her voice faint and quivering.

"Tsunami!" Sasami cried out, handing Mayuka over to Kiyone and kneeling beside the goddess of Jurai, "Tsunami, it's happening, isn't it? The Dark One and Tenchi ... they're weakening you!"

Ryoko noticed that Kiyone was staring at the pale glowing form of Tsunami as if she was trying to remember something, and the air seemed charged with even greater mystery when she noticed Mihoshi beginning to tremble and chant the word "Mizutani" to herself. What did all this mean?

A growl erupted from Ryoko's throat. She had no more patience for all this cryptic nonsense. "Enough!" she shouted, causing Mayuka to cry and startling everyone else into silence. Ryoko calmed down enough to give the baby an apologetic pat on the head, before adding in a lower but still very firm tone of voice, "Do you expect me to just stand here while you wave sword handles at ships? Tenchi's in danger! Please, let me do something!"

Red fire erupted from the gems on Ryoko's wrists and neck, covering her body and replacing her casual clothes with her skintight red and black battle outfit. "Let me do something!" she said again.

Washu grabbed Ryoko in a fierce hug, surprising her. "You will," Washu said to her, "You will. Ryoko, I'm so proud of you..." she broke off as she tried to stop herself from crying.

Baffled but concerned, Ryoko returned the hug and waited for her mother to regain her composure.

Several minutes later, Washu spoke again. "Memories of my earlier life were returned to me today," she said, a faraway look in her eyes, "I had two sisters, a younger one and an older one. Tsunami was one of them." Washu paused as Mihoshi and Kiyone murmured in surprise.

Ryoko simply nodded, silently asking her to proceed with her story. She was still too preoccupied with thoughts of Tenchi to feel much shock, and besides, the wraith in her dream had hinted at this revelation.

"The other sister, the older one, was named Tokimi," Washu continued, "For the most part, we were carefree and happy, enjoying our studies of various realms. One day, Tokimi departed to explore farther than any of us had before. Tsunami and I built a new room for her, as a surprise for when she returned. But Tokimi didn't come back for a very long time.

"On the day that she did return, we found that she had changed drastically. She had become cold, distant. She also had a child with her, claiming that it was hers. She wouldn't give us an explanation, except to say that the child's name was Yuzuha."

Upon hearing this, Ryoko, Mihoshi, and Kiyone all began to talk at once, but Washu raised a hand for silence. "Tokimi would not accept the room Tsunami and I had made for her," Washu went on, "She wouldn't even look at it. She said that she wanted Tsunami's room, because her daughter Yuzuha wanted the tree Tsunami was raising. This angered me, but Tsunami obliged her, and the room we had built for Tokimi became Tsunami's new room instead.

"Tokimi and her daughter rarely came out of the room or spoke to me, although they occasionally let Tsunami in so she could visit her tree. It didn't take long before I became sick of Tokimi and her ungrateful behavior, and decided that I didn't care what she did anymore. I kept departing on longer and longer exploration trips, until one day I returned home to find that Tokimi and Yuzuha were using the tree's power to change the realm, making it suit their desires.

"Ryoko, I want to show you one of my memories. It's very important..."

Images filled Ryoko's mind, pouring in from the mental link she shared with her mother...

******************************************************************

There was a lovely doe-eyed girl with silvery hair. A butterfly rested on the girl's shoulder, folding and unfolding its dainty wings. Colored light from a nearby stained glass window made them look even more beautiful.

("Who's that girl?" Ryoko inquired through the link.

"That's Tsunami. She used that form before she began to assimilate with Sasami. Before she even began the Juraian Empire, in fact," came Washu's response, "Now, watch and listen...")

Young Tsunami was crying, and sent a tearful gaze in Ryoko's direction. Ryoko nearly attempted to reach out and comfort her, but reminded herself that she was simply seeing a past event from Washu's point of view.

"Why? Why must you leave, sister?" Young Tsunami asked, walking closer to Ryoko/Washu. Young Tsunami wrung her hands in desperation as she waited for an answer.

Ryoko heard the voice of a young (but still adult) Washu respond to Young Tsunami. "You know why," said Young Washu, "Our sister has been corrupted! This realm has been corrupted! I suggest that you leave as well, while you still can."

"But ... my tree!" Young Tsunami sobbed. Her butterfly companion took to the air and fluttered in front of her face, as if trying to distract her with a game.

"It is not your tree anymore," Young Washu said softly. Her hand came into Ryoko's field of vision, placing itself on Young Tsunami's shoulder. "Leave while you still can, little sister. Start anew. Find another tree. You have lost this one."

Ryoko's viewpoint began to move away from Tsunami, indicating that Young Washu was leaving the room.

"Sister! Do not leave me!"

Ryoko's point of view turned around to see Young Tsunami falling to her knees and crying even harder than before. She was still framed in the light of the window, but neither that nor the butterfly's presence could mask the heavy cloak of despair that appeared to wrap itself around the girl.

"I am sorry," Young Washu said, before Ryoko's point of view began to move away from Young Tsunami again.

******************************************************************

Ryoko blinked her eyes and found that she was looking at present-day Washu once more.

"Do you see what happened?" said Washu, her voice choked with evident self-loathing, "There was a problem, and I ran away from it! I erased my memories to start a new life, allowing our beautiful home to become the Dimension of Darkness... Now Tenchi has been taken by the Darkness, and it's my fault for not doing anything all those centuries ago!"

"Your fault?" Ryoko said tonelessly, as the implications of Washu's words sank in.

"Ryoko, I'm so sorry!" Washu cried, sinking to the floor much like Tsunami had in the memory, "I could have stopped this before it got out of hand, but instead I decided that I didn't care what Tokimi did ... and now look! Even in my life as a human, I ran away from my troubles ... I retreated and buried my feelings when my husband and son were taken away from me... Ryoko, if I knew that this would happen ... that the Darkness would take Tenchi from you ... I would have never..."

Overcoming her initial surprise at seeing her normally confident mother looking so broken, Ryoko realized the meaning behind this emotional outburst: The two of them had struggled for the past year to reconcile, and doubtlessly Washu now feared that Ryoko would reject her again. But Ryoko knew that she did not want to lose any more family on this day. "Mom, that's enough," she said gently, kneeling to give her a quick hug, "We'll find a way to fix this, okay? Come on, don't give up on me!"

"Ryoko is right, Washu... Together, we can fix this," said Tsunami, "It's not too late. The sun D3, which exploded years ago and destroyed the planet Amano ... the sun D3 has returned..."

Mihoshi gasped, and Kiyone exclaimed, "How can this be?"

Tsunami smiled weakly. "D3 has returned ... and it's not the only thing that we're going to bring back to the way it was. Washu, you must go to the D3 system."

Washu held Ryoko tightly. "I can't leave my daughter to clean up this mess alone ... a mess that I ran away from."

"You'll see," said Tsunami, "These events are all connected. Please go, Washu. Ryoko is the only one who can do what needs to be done here."

"It's okay, Mom," Ryoko said, "We'll get through this. I'll find Tenchi and bring him back."

Washu nodded, brushed away her tears, and turned to Tsunami. "Sister, I owe you an apology as well. My departure was already painful enough for you back then, but now that you're merging with Sasami and gaining her emotions, the years have added to your pain instead of lessening it... I didn't mean to..."

Tsunami shook her head. "There's no need for regrets, sister. We'll have plenty of opportunities to make up for lost time after this is over. Ayeka told me that we have to believe that we'll succeed, and she's right."

Straightening with renewed determination, Washu nodded again, then took one final look around at her friends and family before disappearing in a flash of light.

"Ryoko..." said Tsunami, her voice slowing with obvious fatigue, "You must try to create Light Hawk Wings. It should be possible, now that you have all your gems. The barrier that prevented Tenchi from using his power in the Dimension of Darkness is gone, but now there is a barrier that prevents us from entering that realm. However, if you can make Light Hawk Wings and pit them against those of the dark ship, the way to that dimension should be opened for you. The Dark One is after you, and will probably let you in if you display a sign of your power. I suspect that is the true purpose of the dark ship's Wings ... not to attack, but to call for you. But please remember that Tenchi is the one creating them, so be careful."

Ryoko nodded. "Alright, just tell me what to do."

Tsunami let out a cry of pain, and Sasami clung to her, weeping. Clearly, time was of the essence.

Wordlessly, Tsunami continued, mentally guiding Ryoko to use her powers ... since it was Ryoko's first time doing this, they decided that it would be easier for her to project the Wings through Ryo-Oh-Ki. Even still, it was quite evident that this would not be simple. Ryoko had never made Wings before, and on top of that she found herself oddly uncomfortable with having all her gems back. True, she had always said that she wanted the gems returned to her, but at the moment they just seemed to be a nagging reminder of the horrible acts she had committed during her time with Kagato. And now Tsunami was asking her to wield even more power than what she had used while under that man's command.

Her thoughts turned to Tenchi, and what Kagato had done to him. She had been unable to protect her beloved from that fiend. She could not fail this time! What could cause Tenchi to take part in corrupting a Juraian ship? The possibility that someone was controlling Tenchi's mind, just as Kagato had controlled hers, caused a spark of rage to well up in her, and it soon increased a hundredfold.

"How dare you?" Ryoko snapped, gazing at the dark ship and the Wings it projected, "How dare you try to take control of someone else's mind? How dare you make him threaten the very same planet that I was forced to attack all those years ago? HOW DARE YOU MAKE ANYONE GO THROUGH THE SAME HELL THAT I DID?"

Ryoko's three gems flashed with a light that was reflected in the yellow fire of her eyes. Moments later she was enveloped in an aura of blazing fury, causing those around her to take a few cautious steps back. Using her link with Ryo-Oh-Ki, Ryoko soon had the entire ship giving off golden flames of her power. But still no Light Hawk Wings.

Clenching her fists, Ryoko redoubled her efforts. "I can't fail..." she growled, lightning crackling from her eyes. Every hair on her head undulated in perfect rhythm with the tendrils of power that were radiating from her cabbit-ship. "I can't fail..." Ryoko said again, even as her muscles began to tremble and weaken from all the energy she was using. Still no Wings.

"I can't fail," Ryoko whimpered, tears of frustration coming to her eyes. Why wasn't this working?

"Ryoko?" Tsunami's voice called weakly from somewhere behind her, "We believe in you. If Tenchi were here, I know he'd say that he believes in you as well."

Ryoko's heart instantly recognized the truth of Tsunami's words. Yes, if Tenchi were here, he would tell her that he believed in her.

Her.

She who had been called useless waste product by Kagato. Tenchi was the first person who had made her feel as if she was worth something. Not a monster, not someone's machine, but a human being. That was what she had said to Kagato: "I am not your machine anymore! I am a human being!"

Yes, a human being. Who could have seen that beneath her rough exterior was a vulnerable spirit, a loving heart? Tenchi had. Yes, he had helped her to find her true self.

True self?

Ryoko gazed at the dark ship again. The real Tenchi would never create the Wings to lure her into a trap. He summoned the Wings to protect those he cared about. Ryoko thought about what the mysterious shadowy man had said to her, about being given to the Darkness. Obviously, the Darkness was making Tenchi lose his true self. Tenchi had helped her to attain a sense of self-worth. Could it be that now she needed to do the same for him? In times of danger, she wasn't used to achieving things through methods other than brute force. But she had to try.

Ryoko dropped her fiery aura, and the one she had formed around her cabbit-ship. "I won't let you down," she whispered. Closing her eyes, she stretched out her inner senses and pictured herself reaching towards Tenchi, to touch him, to bring light to him...

She opened her eyes in time to see a tiny star seemingly move out of place in the blackness outside Ryo-Oh-Ki, drifting slowly downwards. Focusing on the twinkling object for a moment, she realized that it was in fact not a star, but something much closer. It was ... a snowflake?

Ryoko's surroundings faded away, outer space and her ship being replaced by snow falling from the Earth's sky. The floor beneath her feet had been replaced by stone, and Ryoko's eyes widened in recognition, for it was the outside of the cave she had been trapped in for seven hundred years. And there beside her was a little boy. It was a young Tenchi, crying out in anguish over his mother's death.

What was this? Perhaps she had passed out, and was now reliving past memories in a dream? An unbearable lump formed in Ryoko's throat, as she reached out to comfort the grieving child, even though she knew that he could not feel her touch. To her amazement, her hand was as solid as could be, and Young Tenchi glanced up as she touched his shoulder.

Ryoko let out a gasp of surprise as Young Tenchi threw his small arms around her, hugging her as tightly as he could. "You were there for me, on that day..." he said, "I know that now. You were there for me all along..."

Ryoko's shoulders sagged as if she were melting under his touch. "Tenchi... Oh Tenchi..." she cried, not holding back her tears. It was a strange role reversal. One minute she had been trying to comfort Tenchi, and the next she was the one crying her heart out as Young Tenchi held her.

The little boy smiled reassuringly at her as he stepped back and put a hand over his heart. "Deep down, there's still a small part of Tenchi that remembers his real feelings, and believes in you. I know you'll be there for him again. Come save him soon, okay?"

"I will," Ryoko promised, giving a small smile and blinking her tears away.

"Look there," said Young Tenchi, pointing up at one of the falling snowflakes.

Ryoko stared at it in wonder. That snowflake appeared to be glowing. As it floated down closer to her, she realized that it was not really a snowflake at all. It was a feather. A glistening feather of light. Soon more feathers followed, gathering in front of her until they began to form a recognizable shape. Wings.

Suddenly Ryoko's surroundings changed again, and she found herself back on board Ryo-Oh-Ki with Sasami and the others. Her companions were murmuring in surprise and wonder as transparent angel's wings appeared at the cabbit-ship's front, materializing one feather at a time, trembling and spreading out tentatively. Ryoko mentally guided Ryo-Oh-Ki and positioned her so that she was facing the ominous dark ship, allowing their three Light Hawk Wings to meet the dark ship's violet ones. Ryoko's feathery constructs seemed so delicate that it looked as if they might shatter any moment, but it was with calm strength that they touched the other set of Wings.

"I'm coming, Tenchi..." said Ryoko.

The cabbit-ship shuddered violently as the Wings met, then there was a bright flash, and Ryoko disappeared in a flurry of luminous feathers.

"Good luck, Ryoko," Sasami whispered.

---

Keeping her fingers pressed against the image of the butterfly, Ayeka closed her eyes as the remaining dust suddenly flew off the window. Opening her eyes a few moments later, she saw that the rest of the stained glass artwork had been exposed, the intricate designs bathing the room in multicolored warmth. Specks of dust were scattered throughout the air, sparkling in the light as if new life had been breathed into them.

Strangely enough, it was not the window that held Ayeka's attention, but the dust. Holding out her hand, she blew at the remnants of gray powder that still clung to her fingers from when she had first touched the window. The fine particles left her hand and took to the air, their tangled movements joining the slow dance of the dust already there.

Tangled movements...

More memories of this realm slowly unraveled before Ayeka, but this time the sensation was more powerful than before. Instead of merely seeing the memories, Ayeka felt as if she was a part of them, almost as if the bits of dust had swept her up and were carrying her along in their elaborate dance.

Tangled movements...

Suddenly Ayeka was Tsunami, running into this very room. She was Tsunami's emotions, a jumble of rage and despair caused by Washu's departure, and fear of being left alone with Tokimi. She was Tsunami's hand, flying through the air to strike at the moving shadow that Tsunami thought must be Tokimi, reaching out to harm her...

Pain tore through Ayeka's consciousness, as she suddenly became the butterfly, struck by Tsunami's hand. She was the butterfly's blood, spilling from the tiny insect's corpse and forming a miniscule crimson pool on the floor. She was the butterfly's wings, crushed and broken. She was the shining scales from the wings, turned to powder.

Tangled movements, troubling knots interrupting the once-beautiful tapestry woven by three sister goddesses, a frenzied dance of conflicting emotions and twisted loyalties...

Then Ayeka was Tsunami's eyes, filling with tears at the realization of her mistake, and the knowledge that the beloved butterfly friend, the one that had been created from Tokimi's blood before her corruption, was dead. She was Tsunami's tears, falling to the floor and mixing with the butterfly's red blood, changing it to a soft pink.

She was the sudden thought that awakened in Tsunami's mind... She was the faint glimmer of hope that entered Tsunami's heart because of that thought. She was Tsunami's hand, lovingly and apologetically taking up some of the pink fluid and warming it with power...

She was the droplet, being transformed by Tsunami's power... She was the seed that it transformed into. She was Tsunami's voice, whispering to the seed, whispering that she would escape, telling it her hopes that one day the seed would be planted, and would grow into a green sprout which would then become a new friend and a new hope... Yes, she'd plant a garden somewhere safe, somewhere far away ... a pretty garden, perhaps with a water fountain...

She was Tsunami's hand again, taking up the rest of the butterfly's blood and smearing it against the center of the stained glass window. She was the window, growing warm at the caress of Tsunami's hand and Tsunami's power. She was the rosy butterfly-shaped image that suddenly appeared in the center of the window, as Tsunami's power caused the blood to meld with the glass, perhaps to someday be reunited with the blood and tears that had gone into the seed. There was still hope, there was always hope, and it clung to Tsunami like a comforting blanket as she continued her preparations to run away.

Tangled movements...

Suddenly Ayeka was herself again, opening her eyes to the splendor of the stained glass. Its near-blinding radiance was in sharp contrast to the dusty confines of the long-forgotten room, like a fiery rainbow that dared to show its face amongst gray clouds. Moving closer to the window, Ayeka saw that her reflection was the image of the forgotten goddess, just as in the room with the tank of Mayuka's origin. Raising her arm, Ayeka saw that of course the image of the goddess raised hers. It was to be expected, but even still Ayeka asked, "Are you me? Am I home?"

Ayeka moved her finger closer to the window, and her not-quite-reflection moved its finger closer as well. Their fingertips met, coming to rest upon the image of the butterfly. The glass grew warm at Ayeka's touch once more, and this time Ayeka held it until the glass began to liquefy, not spilling, but remaining in place in the window, burning hot but somehow not harming Ayeka's skin.

"Now," said Ayeka, and at that simple word a wave of heat rolled over her, covering every inch of skin all the way to the ends of her hair. When the burst of heat subsided, Ayeka found herself clothed in diaphanous white raiment, with silver ribbons woven into her tresses.

Turning her attention back to the window, Ayeka saw that there was now a butterfly-shaped hole in the center where the pink glass had been. Closing her eyes, Ayeka said a silent prayer in thanks for the gift that had been given to her from Tokimi's blood and Tsunami's tears.

---

Back on Earth, Ayeka's contact with the very blood of her past life was felt by Ryu-Oh, causing the tree to undergo an insanely fast growth spurt. The devices that monitored Washu's lab were alarmed at this, and with Washu not around to advise them, they decided it was safest to expel the tree from their dimension, sending it into the hall closet of the Masaki home. Naturally, the closet was too small, and the top of the tree ripped through the stairs, and kept going until it nearly broke through the roof of the house. Luckily, at that time Nobuyuki was still outside watching Azaka and Kamidake recharge, and therefore was not hurt.

Needless to say, he was in for a hell of a surprise when he got back.

---

Still lying on the floor of the ship Ryo-Oh-Ki, Tsunami let out a whimper as another surge of pain ripped through her. Since Ryoko's departure, the intensity of the torture had been growing steadily worse. Through a haze of agony, Tsunami dimly noticed a teary-eyed Sasami begging to bear some of the affliction for her, but she shook her head in adamant refusal.

"Tsunami, you're being unreasonable!" Sasami cried, "I know what you're trying to do! You can't hide it from me... You're using too much power to shelter me from the hurt, and that's why you've been weakened so much!"

Unable to deny the accusation, Tsunami turned away and closed her eyes.

"You can't do this, Tsunami!" Sasami shouted, her voice suddenly filled with uncharacteristic anger, "You have to devote all of your strength to protecting Jurai! You can't place me above millions of Juraians! I won't let you!" She slapped Tsunami, the action sounding unexpectedly loud in the small ship.

The pure shock of it caused Tsunami's concentration to falter, obliterating the shield she had been using to protect Sasami. Moments later the small girl screamed, collapsing beside Tsunami. The air became thick with heavy emotion and unspoken apologies as the two clung to each other and cried quietly, one struggling to regain her concentration, the other struggling to prove that she could endure her share of the anguish.

Kiyone and Mihoshi rushed to their side, but Tsunami gestured for them to stay back. "Sasami, you're so brave," the goddess whispered into the girl's ear, "and I know you'll be angry at me for not letting you help with the next step in our plans, but I just cannot allow you to suffer like this..." Upon saying those words, she pressed her hand against Sasami's forehead, and the young princess immediately fell asleep.

"Tsunami, isn't there anything we can do to help?" asked Mihoshi, clearly on the verge of tears, "Please, you can't expect Kiyone and I to just stand here while our friends have gone off into danger!"

"Fear not, for the both of you shall also have a role in our salvation," said Tsunami, her voice wavering as she had to bear the full brunt of the torment again.

Kiyone's features were set in pure determination. "Then please, tell us how we can help you!"

Tsunami managed to give a small smile. "Why Kiyone, do you not recall what happened shortly before you were rescued from deep space?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Kiyone, before her eyes widened with realization, "Th-the apparition! That was ... you?"

"Yes, Kiyone," Tsunami replied, nodding even though it hurt to do so, "I told you certain words, and said that when the time was right, you would remember them and pass them on to Mihoshi. That time has come."

"But..." Kiyone hesitated and looked at Mihoshi, as if worried about what this might do to her friend. But Mihoshi offered her a brave smile, while Mayuka cooed soothingly from her position in Kiyone's arms. All of Ryo-Oh-Ki's crystals seemed to echo Mayuka's sound, and on the ship's communication screen, the image of Katsuhito nodded solemnly at all of them.

"Kiyone, I chose you on that day because I wanted to give you a reason to survive," said Tsunami, "But that's not all. Only the one who utters the words can be Mihoshi's companion in her task, and I have no doubt in my mind that you are the best person to guide her. Please, will you help Mihoshi in her most important mission?"

"Of course," said Kiyone, all traces of hesitation disappearing as she hugged her best friend.

Mihoshi smiled again. "Ready when you are, Kiyone."

Their surroundings shone with an unnatural light, as Kiyone began to speak the fate-laden words. Even the air itself seemed to have caught on fire. Tsunami closed her eyes, in an effort to hide fresh tears. One way or another, this would all be over soon.

---

"So, you are the reincarnated butterfly of my blood. Welcome home, Ayekanaru."

"Just 'Ayeka', please," Ayeka said as calmly as she could, turning around to see the false Achika standing behind her, "Tell me, why did you choose the path of Darkness?"

"You've seen the memories of this realm, and yet you still do not understand? Poor, naïve little princess," said the dark woman, something akin to pity in her gaze. She dropped her Achika disguise and transformed into Lady Tokimi, although she kept the lavender kimono. "Consider this... Long ago, my sisters and I were sent to this realm, with no instructions except for the decree that we must discover our Great Purpose for ourselves. Do you know what happened next? Do you know how we three goddesses spent our time? You saw the recollections of this place, so you should know the answer."

Apprehensiveness almost made Ayeka take a step back, but she stopped herself in time. She did not want to show fear in front of Tokimi. "The three of you were a family, happily exploring..."

"We were a disgrace!" Tokimi interrupted, her blue-tinged eyes flashing, "We were immortals with power beyond your imagination, but we squandered our abilities by playing dress-up with humanoid fashions and collecting silly trinkets from our favorite worlds! You saw the memories! YOU SAW THEM! Three almighty goddesses acting like foolish teenage girls ... do you not find that pathetic? Do you not find that an appalling waste?"

This time Ayeka did take a step back, but Tokimi merely strode forward to close the distance between them.

"So to answer your question, little princess, I chose the path of Darkness for the sake of my sisters," Tokimi continued, squinting at the stained glass window for probably the first time, "When Tsunami realized that I might wage war against her, she built the magnificent Juraian Empire so she could protect her favorite galaxy. And even though Washu's memories had been erased, she retained a subconscious fear of me, causing her to create Ryoko as the ultimate warrior. But if I can defeat them all, it'll force my sisters to create even more powerful ways to fight me, until at last they reach their full potential. Don't you see? I had to choose the Darkness, because it was the only way to push my sisters into the glorious destiny that they deserve. Surely you can understand that. You would do anything for your little sister, wouldn't you? You want what's best for Sasami, right?"

Ayeka swallowed nervously, as her mind scrambled to find something to say in response to Tokimi's words. The dark goddess' imposing figure was surrounded by light from the stained glass, the contrast making her an even more awe-inspiring and terrifying sight. In such a presence, coherent thinking was nearly impossible. How could Ayeka argue with such a wise and powerful goddess? Perhaps Tokimi was in the right after all. Yes, Ayeka had been foolish to think that she could outdo the mother of Yuzuha... Wait a minute. "But Lady Tokimi, what about Yuzuha?" Ayeka asked.

Tokimi tensed visibly, and that was all the answer that was needed.

"That's it, isn't it?" Ayeka said pensively, regaining her resolve as her mind found clarity once more, "Your powers of persuasion are very good, Lady Tokimi. You almost made me forget about Yuzuha, your daughter. Yes, I see it now... I believe that at first you really did set this plan in motion for the sake of your sisters, but you didn't expect your only daughter to be killed."

"How dare you..." Tokimi snarled.

"Since you had to fight your sisters, Yuzuha was the only family you had left, so naturally you were torn apart by her demise," Ayeka went on, her gentle voice strangely overcoming Tokimi's fierce tone, "How sad and ironic, that you had buried your feelings of compassion so you could push your sisters into greatness, and yet after your daughter's death you found yourself aching with human emotions after all ... emotions such as grief and the desire for revenge. That's why you turned Lord Tenchi against Tsunami, why you're trying to seize control of the Juraian fleet, and why you're trying to take Miss Ryoko next. You still intend to make your sisters realize their full potential, but at the price of taking their children to replace your own. I'm right, aren't I?"

Silence filled the next few minutes, but Ayeka did not find it unnerving in the least. She moved closer to Tokimi, and this time it was the goddess' turn to take a step back.

"I cannot accept further harm to my friends," Ayeka said quietly. With a smile, she added, "You can understand that, right?"

"Why are you here, little butterfly?" asked Tokimi, flexing her purple claws warningly, "Do you seek to destroy me?"

Ayeka smiled again. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of it..."

---

Ryoko opened her eyes to find herself in complete darkness. "Gee, I guess the Dimension of Darkness decided to live up to its name," she quipped, summoning her second sight in an attempt to figure out Tenchi's exact location. As the power flowed through her, several stars twinkled into existence, shining bravely in the lonely void. Then to her surprise, additional stars began to appear every time she exhaled. It felt as if she was breathing light into the sky. Her other senses blossomed in tandem with her second sight, and soon she could hear a regular pulsing sound accompanying her respiration. It was a comforting beat, and Ryoko marveled at how warm and safe it made her feel.

In a swirl of color, the source of the sound was revealed: It was her mother, floating above a large sun. Washu's heartbeat was audibly pulsing in time with the bright star, each systole and diastole seeming to make the sun's light more dazzling. Gaping in amazement, Ryoko remembered Tsunami mentioning a sun called D3 that had exploded several years ago, but then somehow returned. So Washu was now using her own heartbeat to make the sun stronger? Her mother truly was a goddess...

The vision of Washu dissolved, and Ryoko found herself surrounded by white mist. Soon after, the vapor coalesced into the pale form of Tsunami, who seemed to be growing weaker by the second. Sasami was curled up nearby, apparently in a deep sleep. Ryoko's heart sank as she viewed the distressing scene, until her second sight caught a glimmer of something deep within Tsunami. A hidden reserve of power? Ryoko sighed with relief. They were not beaten yet. There was still hope. As if confirming this thought, Ryoko's expanding senses could feel her faithful ship Ryo-Oh-Ki guarding Tsunami, Sasami, and Mayuka. She could also perceive that Katsuhito's watchful aura was present nearby. Yes, there was still hope. But wait... Where were Mihoshi and Kiyone?

As if her unvoiced question had been heard, this vision also faded, and was replaced with a golden light. It took a few minutes before Ryoko realized that the glow was Mihoshi, and that Kiyone was with her. Could it be that Mihoshi had hidden power as well? Ryoko could not tell where the two friends were, or what they were doing, but she was certain that they were also going to play an important role in what was about to happen.

"And I'll do my part by saving Tenchi," Ryoko said to herself, "That is, if one of these damn images will tell me where he is..."

The glow dissipated, and this time the view changed into a large, round window made of stained glass. It scintillated like a pinwheel of jewels, and Ryoko recognized the style from one of Nobuyuki's books about architecture: it was called a rose window, because its labyrinthine design resembled the petals of an immense flower.

The glass began to ripple, and Ryoko blinked in astonishment as the rose window somehow became a real rose, its gigantic petals unfurling to allow the emergence of an enormous butterfly.

"What's the meaning of that vision?" Ryoko wondered aloud, her gaze following the winged creature's ascent until it soared out of sight.

"It means that the butterfly of blood has made contact with the goddess, and soon Ayeka will explore paths that have never been tread before," said a voice from behind her.

Cursing herself for allowing someone to catch her unawares, Ryoko whirled around, but relaxed upon seeing that it was the shadowy Tenchi-like being, once again surrounded with five gray Light Hawk Wings.

"Everything is falling into place," he continued, "However, Ayeka's task cannot be completed without your help, and the help of all your friends. First and foremost, of course, we need you to save Tenchi. I'm here to guide you."

Ryoko's heart skipped a beat. "Does that mean you know where he is?"

"Follow me," he said, flying ahead into the unfathomable blackness.

"Hang in there, Tenchi," Ryoko whispered as she trailed her enigmatic companion, "I'll be with you soon."

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's notes: Okay, that's it for Chapter 6. There was supposed to be more, but I figured that you folks have been kept waiting long enough, so I decided to post what I had. When the rest is written, it'll be posted as Chapter 7 (it will contain further explanations, so please don't despair if you find things a bit confusing right now). Also, just a quick reminder that this fic uses the first two OAV series and the Mihoshi Special, combined with Manatsu no Eve. It does not use the novels, GXP, or the third OAV series, because I don't have access to them in their entirety (and some of those things didn't exist when I began writing this fic). Sorry. If it bothers you that the shadowy figure in this chapter was not "Z", and that I referred to Tenchi's mother as "Achika" instead of "Kiyone" throughout the fic, then just look at this story as an alternate universe tale.

As a final note, I want to acknowledge the members of the Ayeka Fan Club. They treated me with so much kindness, even though I'm primarily a Ryoko fan. Working with them was an incredible learning experience, and I hope that they continue to prosper under their new staff. Best of luck, guys! And don't worry, because I'll still drop by for a visit whenever I can!

Well, thanks for reading! If you have feedback, please send it to me!

Text copyright 2003, Literary Eagle  
(But most of the characters belong to AIC)


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